The Keybearer and the Wizard
by Fafnir's Treasure
Summary: Voldemort has teamed up with Maleficent to bring about the end of the world! The strength of his heart and magic ensured Harry's survival and now he must partner with the new Keybearer Sora to bring down the powerful combination. Harry/Yuffie Sora/Kairi.
1. Chapter 1

AN: I'm not a millionaire so I must not own Kingdom Hearts or Harry Potter. Darn...

Chapter One

Voldemort's Victory and the Destruction of the Wizarding World

The Dark Lord has risen again.

Lord Voldemort looked toward the distance as he reverently ran his spider-like hands over his new body, inspecting it for and fault or deficient. Apparently satisfied, he grabbed his white wand of yew from the lax fingers of Peter Pettigrew, holding it gently between his thumb and index finger. He closed his red slitted eyes, flicked his wand, and robes that seemed to be made from the shadows themselves garbed his pale, skeletal frame.

For the first time Voldemort looked at the one who made this all possible; Harry Potter was struggling against his bonds. The Tri-Wizard Cup was, in actuality, a port-key enchanted by one of his most loyal followers deep in Dumbledore's camp designed to transport the first person who touched it to this graveyard. Voldemort smirked, his yearlong plan had finally come to fruition, He had returned, greater and more terrible than ever before; he could practically feel the powerful protective charm of the Potter brat's mudblood mother thrumming through his veins.

"Master..." panted Wormtail gaining his Lord's attention.

Voldemort sneered down at the whimpering form of his most cowardly follower, Peter Pettigrew.

"Wormtail..." hissed the Dark Lord.

"Please Master, my... my hand."

He held his arm up and where there should have been a hand there was instead a jagged bloody stump.

Voldemort's sneer grew more pronounced at the pitiful wizard's begging. He pointed his wand at the wound and molten quicksilver poured from it's tip forming the basic shape for a human hand. The magical prosthesis attached to his arm looking like a shiny silver glove. Wormtail picked up a large chunk of broken headstone and crushed it into dust with his new hand.

"Thank you Master, it is beautiful My Lord."

"May your loyalty never waiver again, Wormtail. Now go back to headquarters and await further instructions."

Pettigrew nodded and disapparated.

The true heir of Salazar Slytherin turned his attention back to his fourteen year old hostage.

"Harry Potter, why are you in such a hurry. The night's festivities have barely begun, we have one other guest of honor joining us."

Voldemort's sibilant voice stretched the 's' sounds in his speech.

Harry stopped his struggling, he had been trying to pull his wand out of an inner pocket of his tournament robes but it was no good, the cords Wormtail bound him with were too tight to allow him to move much so he settled for glaring at the darkest sorcerer since Dark Lady Morgan Le Fay terrorized the Isles.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" Asked Harry sardonically. "You're falling into a horrible trope right now."

Voldemort actually chuckled.

"We'll get there don't worry, but first, how about a story?"

Harry's temper got the better of him and he cheeked Voldemort again.

"Oh goody, I never got bed time stories at the Dursley's!"

Voldemort continued as though he hadn't been interrupted.

"It starts shortly after you stopped me from obtaining the Philosopher's Stone. I was living as a wraith in the forests of Albania and had to posses a new animal every few days to interact with the material world when I was approached by someone. She was a powerful witch and I admit I tried to take her body for my own but was quickly rebuffed; in my weakened form I was no match for this Dark Lady."

Voldemort made a creepy, hissing chuckle.

"Her name was Maleficent and she called herself the Mistress of All Evil, and all she wanted to do was talk to me. I was curious so I possessed a nearby snake and slithered closer to her. She told me of her study in the darkness residing in the hearts of men and it's power, then she said that the world itself has a heart that contains vast amounts of energy and that if one were to open the 'door' to that realm then one would destroy that world."

He was about to continue when a pillar of green flame erupted from the ground and when it died down a person was standing there.

"Ah, Lady Maleficent, so good of you to come."

Maleficent was a tall woman, nearly seven feet, with pale, greenish skin and arched eyebrows, and yellow sclera. She had a black horned helmet of some sort that covered her hair and a robe as dark as Voldemort's that was lined with a muted purple cloth and had a high collar. She carried a scepter-like stave that had a pulsing green gem on top on which perched a raven.

"Lord Voldemort, it is good to see you with a body."

He nodded towards the teenage boy.

"I was just teaching young Potter about the true properties of this world."

"Ah,"

She seemed to glide along the floor, her long robes concealing her feet as she approached and knelt at the still glaring hostage.

"What a darling little boy."

Harry's glare intensified and she ran a sharp, black nail down his cheek making a thin cut in the skin.

Voldemort hissed into the night and a long green snake slithered out of the shadows, it reared itself up and draped it's thick body over the Dark Lord's skinny shoulders.

Voldemort spoke in parseltongue.

_"My dear Nagini, It's good to see you in the flesh again." _

Harry couldn't hear what Nagini said in response as it was too quiet.

Maleficent stood and glided back to her contemporary.

"Are you ready, Lord Voldemort?"

"Yes," said Tom, turning away from his familiar, "Did you hold up your end of the bargain?"

"The Dark Witch known as Bellatrix Lestrange as well as the Dark Wizard Bartemius Crouch Jr. are in stasis and awaiting transport."

Caskets holding two people appeared in a burst of flames, a young man with disheveled brown hair dressed in a leather duster, black shirt, and black cargo pants tucked into shiny black boots, and a dark-haired woman in her late thirties wearing dirty prison robes. Both of them were clutching their chosen wands like a lifeline.

(AN: I just couldn't get rid of these two characters, they really are Voldemort's coolest Death Eaters.)

She waved her scepter and several objects appeared in the air. A gleaming tiara, a golden locket, an old ring, and a chalice.

"They were right where you told me they would be."

Voldemort flicked his wand and banished the artifacts to a storage trunk he had prepared in advance.

The two Dark Sorcerers turned back to Harry who had started struggling in his bonds again.

"Now where was I before I was pleasantly distracted? Oh yes! When you open the door to the heart of a world you feed something known as Kingdom Hearts. If you gain control of Kingdom Hearts you gain control of that power."

Harry couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Do you realize how crazy this all sounds?"

Voldemort smirked.

"Yes, I didn't believe at first but Lady Maleficent provided me with undeniable proof."

Maleficent raised her stave and five small, black rabbit-like creatures appeared from the shadows.

"These are the most basic kinds of Heartless," began the Dark Witch, "When a normal person is consumed by the darkness in their heart they leave their body behind and become one of several types of Heartless."

Harry scowled.

"Okay, so it's all true. What do you plan on doing? And would you please let me go? These cords are starting to chafe and it's really uncomfortable, if this is how you treat your guests it's no wonder you're considered a Dark Lord."

"A rash is the least of your problems, Harry Potter. For you see, the Heartless have already made their way into the heart of this world and are waiting on our command."

Maleficent took that as her cue and sent a pulse of green energy into the ground.

The ground started shaking and the already night sky darkened even moreso as storm clouds gathered.

The Dark Lord cackled.

"Come, Lord Voldemort! We must away before the worlds condition deteriorates even more."

The Mistress of Evil opened an inky black portal and Voldemort summoned a shrunken trunk from Riddle Manor.

"This is good bye, Harry Potter. It's too bad I won't get to kill you myself but we can't get everything we want."

Voldemort shrugged his snake covered shoulders and followed Maleficent into the Corridor of Darkness levitating his favored disciples behind him.

As soon as the portal closed Harry started struggling furiously against the cords before finally succeeding in removing his wand from his inner pocket. _"Diffindo!"_ A sickle of energy cut through the ropes binding him and he stood up, all the while watching the increasingly bad weather.

He absently put his wand back into his robes.

The clouds coalesced into a tight ball before imploding on itself and turning into a gigantic orb of black and purple energy that started falling towards the Earth.

_'Oh, that's not good!'_

Before Harry could start running for the port-key the ball of darkness collided with a town a few miles away. The ground shook and Harry fell over hitting his head on a tombstone before blacking out.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

A brown-haired man wearing a leather jacket embroidered with stylized red wings and lined with white fur and black pants was doing his scheduled patrol in the world known as Traverse Town. Squall Leonhart, more commonly known as Leon, looked up towards the sky as a twinkling light caught his attention.

Far away a star in the night sky fazed out of existence and Leon sighed; Cid would want to know of this.

Passing by an alleyway he looked to his left in an attempt to spot any Heartless ambushes and saw a shoed foot peeking out from behind some crates. Drawing his signature sword, a silver blade with a revolver chamber right above a black pistol grip, he cautiously approached.

Brandishing his weapon, he ran around wooden boxes.

It was a teenage boy, the lad had shoulder length black hair parted over his right eye and circular glasses, he was wearing a slightly battered and singed kneelength black robe with a ornate crest and gold accents, the robe had short sleeves allowing for the sleeves of a long red tee-shirt to peek through, he had leather fingerless gloves and black pants with red and gold stripes running up the outer seams and dark leather tennis shoes. The boy was tall for his age and had a curious shaped scar peeking out from under his raven-colored fringe.

(AN: He's wearing what he wore when he flew against the dragon in the fourth movie.)

"Now who the hell are you?"

Shrugging, picked the teen up and hoisted him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. It looked like Traverse Town was going to get another refugee from another destroyed world.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

Harry Potter groaned and slowly opened his green eyes.

"He's waking up!" Said an excitable female voice only to be reprimanded by a slightly older girl.

"Shush, Yuffie."

Gentle hands put his glasses on his face and two blurry forms swam into view.

The older one was a brunette who's hair was tied back in a long braid with a red bow leaving her bangs to part and frame her gently smiling face. She had blue eyes and was garbed in a light pink dress, she wore light brown leather boots and had a blue belt resting on her hips.

The younger one had short black hair, dark eyes, a happy grin, and had a white headband under her bangs. She had a yellow scarf and wore a green tube top that exposed her flat and slightly muscled midriff held up by two blue belts and brown fingerless gloves that went to her elbows under which were fishnet stockings that went to her shoulders. She had tan short shorts and a blue belt similar but different to the other girl's, and brown boots that went past her ankle with long white stockings.

"Um... Hi..." said Harry as he slowly inched his hand to his hidden wand.

"There won't be any need for that," said the brown-haired girl, noticing Harry's guarded expression, "whoever you are, we are not your enemy. We found you in an alley and brought you back to our home to heal you up."

Harry relaxed, for some reason he felt he could trust these two.

"Thanks, my name's Harry Potter."

He held his hand out to shake.

Both girls smiled (the younger one's grin widened.)

The older one grasped his hand.

"My name's Aerith Gainsborough.

The younger one bounced infront of him.

"My name's The Great Ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi. Happy to meet ya!"

Harry felt himself give his signature lopsided grin, he liked the energy this girl seemed to radiate. His grin faded when he realized he still didn't know where he was or what happened after he was knocked unconscious.

"Er... Where am I?"

An apathetic voices answered from the doorway.

"You're the latest refugee in Traverse Town."

The man had shoulder length brown hair and seemed partial to black leather and belts.

"My names Squall Leonhart, but I prefer it if everyone called me Leon," he shot a look at Aerith, "any way, you're here because you had a strong enough will and heart to survive the destruction of your world."

At the end of his sentence Harry remembered the events of the night in horrifying clarity.

Harry cupped his face with his hand and the air grew heavy and charged with static electricity like before a rainstorm as Harry's magic got away from him.

The three other people in the room were instantly put on edge.

"My home, my home is gone?" Asked Harry in an empty voice as the air distorted further and the fluorescent lights flickered.

Aerith made a sympathetic noise and approached Harry, hoping to get him to calm down.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," even to her the words sounded hollow, "the same thing happened to us. Our worlds are gone as well."

"And what of my friends?"

"If they had a strong heart and will then they too may have escaped to another world."

The pressure of Harry's magic let up and he looked at Aerith with a sad smile.

"Then they're alright," said Harry, trying to convince himself, "both Ron and Hermione are two of the most stubborn people I know, they won't let a little thing like the end of the world stop them."

Yuffie bounced on her heels.

"That's the spirit!"

Harry suddenly stood.

"Voldemort!"

"Gesundheit."

Harry looked at Yuffie.

"I didn't sneeze. Dark Lord Voldemort, he's the wizard who called the Heartless to my world, him and his partner Maleficent!"

Harry was roughly pushed against a wall by Squall.

"What do you mean, Maleficent was at your world, and she partnered with a powerful Dark Wizard? What happened?"

Harry pulled his wand from his robe as soon as Leon had grabbed him and sent a strong Disarming Charm into the dour man's abdomen throwing him back arse over teakettle into the wall on the other side of the room.

"Leon!"

Aerith ran and knelt at Squall's side as the leather clad man shakily stood rubbing his stomach.

"I'll explain if you kindly refrain from grabbing me like that again." said Harry, still pointing his wand at Squall.

Leon looked to the side of the room facing a back alley water way where his sword was leaning against the wall.

Aerith and Yuffie moved in unison and smacked the back of the heads of the boy they were closest to.

"There will be no fighting here."

Both Squall and Harry looked at eachother before they both nodded and Leon said:

"Whatever..."

(AN: I couldn't resist.)

Harry lowered his wand but he did not sheath it.

Yuffie looked to Harry.

"How did you do that? I've never seen magic like that before."

Harry raised an eyebrow and was about to explain when the voice of an old man came from the doorway.

"It was a Disarming Charm. One of the first offensive spells taught to wizarding children, though I must say that particular one was very powerful. Normally it's only supposed to relieve the target of whatever they're holding not throw someone away."

The heads of everyone turned towards the door.

It was an old man who was dressed in a simple light blue robe, slippers, and pointed hat. He wore round glasses and had a long white beard and shoulder length white hair. He carried both a long white wand, a brown walking cane, and had a single bag of luggage floating behind him.

Harry vaguely recognized this man from somewhere.

"Merlin, It's good to see you again."

'Holy shit!'

Harry stumbled backwards toward the bed and sat down.

"H-how are you alive? You're supposed to be in Avalon."

Merlin chuckled.

"I assure you dear boy that rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated."

"What's he talking about, Merlin?" Enquired Yuffie with a cutely puzzled expression on her face.

Harry turned an incredulous eye on the other people in the room.

"Don't you know whom you speak to so casually? This is Lord Merlin Ambrosius, one of the most powerful and well known wizards in my world! He was supposed to have died over nine hundred years ago after teaching his four apprentices; Gryffindor of Moor, Ravenclaw from Glen, Hufflepuff from Valley Broad, and Slytherin from Fen."

"Please, just call me Merlin" said the old man, making a shushing motion with his hands, "I'm tired of my fame, I prefer living in anonymity," he got a shrewd look in his eye as he saw the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead, "but you'd know all about that Harry James Potter, Boy-Who-Lived."

Harry stood up, ignoring the confused expressions on the faces of the other three, and walked to Merlin.

"How did you know me if you left our world?"

Merlin chuckled.

"I still pop in every now and then in different guises. I know all about you."

Harry sighed.

"When was the last time you 'popped in'?"

Merlin thought hard.

"In your years it'd be nineteen eighty six."

"Well you're a little behind on events, with the help of one of his followers Voldemort resurrected himself and partnered with a witch called Maleficent to introduce Heartless to the 'Heart of the World', whatever that means," he stopped infront of the increasingly grave elder, "our world is gone, as far as I know you, Voldemort, two of his most fanatical apprentices, and I are all that's left."

Merlin sighed sadly before looking up, a fire in his dark eyes.

"You must come with me." He looked to an annoyed Leon, "Squall (he flinched), you need to see Cid, he found another refugee; a boy bearing a large _key_."

Recognition flared in Squalls eyes and he left the room. Yuffie and Aerith made to follow him but Merlin stopped them by blocking their path with his cane.

"Two visitors from King Mickey are here, you two need to find them and escort them to Cid's shop I have new orders for them. I'll meet you there with Harry in an hour."

The two girls left but not before Yuffie looked over her shoulder and waved at Harry, a small blush on her cheeks.

"Harry, now that we are alone we need to talk."

The boy nodded and Merlin gestured for Harry to follow him down a flight of stairs and out a set of double doors leading into an alley way between the building they were in and an incredibly tall wall.

Hary followed Merlin down to the far end of the alley passing under strings of lit lanterns, every so often they would pass a poster telling people that it wasn't safe out of doors and to always take company with you wherever you go. Fireflies blinked in the humid summer air and despite the perpetual night that the town seemed encased in it was relatively warm.

"This way, were nearly there."

The voice of Merlin broke Harry out of his reverie.

Merlin led Harry to a wooden door that had the glowing image of a tongue of flame embossed on it. Extracting his wand, Merlin gave it a flick and a small gout of fire burst forth and hit the door which glowed and slid open.

"Come."

Harry pulled his wand and entered a natural atrium made out of black stone. The room was large and empty except for a hut on the middle of a deep lake that took up the majority of the floor.

Merlin flicked his wand again and a bridge of ice arose from the depths of the lake. Harry scurried after the quiet wizard.

Entering the house, which was empty except for a raised stone platform in the center of the circular room, Merlin sat his bag down and opened it. Bouncing on his heels, he waved his wand like an orchestra conductor and all manner of shrunken furniture and books jumped out and circled around the two magicals before finding their proper place along the smooth walls.

After that Merlin turned back to the young lad.

"Harry. I'm old," he settled himself into a squashy armchair, "I don't have the endurance to combat both Maleficent and Voldemort as well as his most powerful apprentices."

The look of resignation on the legendary wizard's face sent Harry into a panic.

"Then what are we going to do?"

Merlin reached over and grabbed his cane before handing it to Harry.

"You must fight them."

Harry nearly dropped Merlin's stave.

"What! I'm fourteen, how am I supposed to fight with the four most powerful dark wizards and witches I've ever seen?"

"Harry, think for a moment! You are strong! I felt it the moment I stepped foot on this world. The strength of your magic as well as your heart ensured your survival when all was lost, it will pull you through the dark times ahead."

Harry looked at the stave.

"Harry," continued Merlin in a softer voice, "when you get to be my age you begin to understand the significance of these acts of magic. You of all the people being the one to make it out of the wizarding world means something. Out of all the worlds you could've been sent to your arrival here means something, just like meeting Squall and the others means something."

Harry looked up from the stick of wood in his hand and Merlin was surprised to find tears in his eyes.

He spoke in a whisper.

"If I go out there will I find my friends, my family? I refuse to accept that I was the only wizard to live through the end of the world."

Merlin sighed in thought.

"I honestly don't know."

Harry looked down, dejected.

"But I can say this with absolute certainty; if you don't get out there and look for them chances are you'll never find them, be proactive in your endeavors."

Harry looked up and Merlin was happy to see the tears were gone and a steely, determined glint was shining in his emerald orbs.

"Alright, I'll do it."

Merlin smiled underneath his silver beard and flicked his wand making a green book materialize between them.

"Harry, this book will be tied to your magic, when you are ready to learn a new spell or ability a page will be filled in with the details; just because Hogwarts is gone doesn't mean you should stop your education."

He handed the book to Harry who struggled with the cumbersome tome, his wand and his new stave.

Merlin chuckled.

"Don't worry Harry, when we get to Cid's odd's and end store I'm sure he'll have something to hold that book and whatever other artifacts you find out there. If you want to shrink that book all you have to do is place a finger on the cover and say _'dubitat' _if you want it to grow you tap it and say_ 'crescit'_."

Harry tapped the cover and softly said _"dubitat,"_ shrinking the heavy book to the size of a pocket notebook that he slipped in an inside pocket of his tournament cloak.

"Ready, Harry?"

The boy nodded and switched his new stave to his left hand before pocketing his wand to be drawn with his right.

The two wizards left the hut and set out for Cid's shop.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

Harry and Cid talked about Harry's strength's and weaknesses and his experiences on the way to Traverse Town's First District, the only perpetually safe area in the city. When Harry asked why the Heartless were not attacking them Merlin explained that there were few things the creatures of the darkness feared but he, an artifact called the Keyblade, and a man called Yen Sid, were some of them.

"Your strength in defensive magic will serve you well but I want you to continue practicing your Transfigurations, Charms, and Potions, all three will help you on your journey, If I can I will send you instructions on other more obscure branches of magic including alchemy and the mind arts."

"Yes, Merlin."

"Very good, now, we're here."

The master sorcerer flicked his wand and the large door to the First District opened wide enough for the two of them to walk through.

The town square had several shops selling weapons, restorative items, and accessories/armor. Walking down a set of steps put the two infront of a shop that had a sign that proclaimed it to be 'Cid's'.

They entered the small store and Harry saw Leon as well as Aerith and Yuffie (who blushed a bit on seeing Harry). Behind the counter Harry saw an older man with short blond hair and a white tee-shirt with dark blue pants and a thick orange belt with dark brown boots. He had a toothpick in his mouth and had a surly expression on his face. Standing in front a fireplace was a teenage boy roughly the same age as Harry, he had spiky brown hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. He wore a white and black hooded jacket and a red shirt, red shorts held up with a blue belt, yellow sneakers, and white fingerless gloves, he had several belts of various color, zippers, and chains including one that had a charm in the shape of a crown around his neck.

"What took so long, Merlin," spoke the older man in a gruff, gravely, voice.

"Nothing much, just finishing a talk with young Harry, here."

For the first time since the two stepped into the room all the attention was on Harry and, as always, he felt uncomfortable.

"This the kid Leon found unconscious?"

"Yes."

Aerith spoke up.

"Why does he have your cane, Merlin"

"Because I want Harry to travel with the Keybearer."

Most of the occupants of the room looked at Harry in shock, except for Yuffie; who looked sad that Harry wasn't going to be around more often, and Sora; who was grinning at his new traveling companion.

"Harry will be needed to fight against the magical enemies, Maleficent and her new ally Lord Voldemort and his disciples Bartemius Crouch and Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry has the knowledge to counter them if we act quickly."

Harry added on.

"I also want to find my friends, they're so stubborn I doubt the end of the world would be enough to kill them. He looked at each of the occupants of the room. If you could tell me if you see them I would appreciate it; they're two of them, one is a tall red-headed boy named Ron Weasley, the other is a girl shorter than me with bushy brown hair, her name is Hermione Granger, usually she's seen with a book in her possession,

The brown-haired boy nodded and approached.

"I'm also looking for my friends, one is a boy a year older than me with silver hair and blue eyes, his name's Riku, the other is a girl with red hair and blue eyes, named Kairi."

The Keybearer looked at Harry and grinned.

"My name is Sora."

He held out his left hand and Harry shook it with his right.

"Harry Potter."

Merlin broke the reverie.

"Cid, do you have anything in a durable pouch or a rucksack?"

"Jus' give me a minute."

He went into his back room and left a few moments later carrying a dark leather pouch on a equally dark leather belt.

"Here you go."

He tossed the pouch which Merlin caught and enchanted all in one motion before handing it to Harry.

(AN: He's Merlin, I ain't gotta explain s***)

"Harry, I've charmed that bag to hold more than it should. anything you put inside will be shrunken down and charmed to be feather light."

Harry thanked the old man and put the belt on over his cloak and let it hang off his hips.

"Now, before you leave you need to find two people. King Mickey sent out his court magician and the captain of his royal guards I need to relay their new mission."

Yuffie bounced infront of Harry and threw her arm over his shoulders (with only a little blush on her cheeks.)

"Sorry, but Aerith and I couldn't find them anywhere."

Harry blushed as well but put his arm around Yuffie's waist to thank her for trying (making Aerith grin knowingly and Yuffie's blush intensify to Ginny Weasley-like levels.)

"Don't worry, we'll find them," retorted Harry.

"Yeah," added Sora, "and we'll take the chance to look for our friends."

Harry smiled, nodded and the two boys left the shop.

"So Sora," asked Harry, "where should we go?"

The brunette shrugged. Let's try the Third District, it's the only place I haven't been yet.

"Alright."

The two young heroes set off and climbed the stairs leading to the Second District. Pulling his wand as Sora summoned the keyblade. They took a few steps and were surrounded by Heartless that rose from the shadows. Sora prepared to strike when he felt an odd presence. The air grew heavy and he looked to Harry.

"These are the monsters that destroyed my home. Sora, let me get these ones, okay? I need to vent some frustrations."

Sora relaxed his posture and nodded.

"Sure, you gonna be okay?"

Harry turned to him and smiled as the pressure left the air, making it easier to breath.

"Yeah, no problem."

He turned back to the encroaching darkness; these things sure weren't as intimidating as the basilisk or a single dementor (let alone a hundred at the same time.)

He readied his stave in his left hand and wand in the right. Aiming at the nearest Heartless he shouted, _"Confringo!"_ A smoky, purple grenade of energy shot at the Heartless and was vaporised on contact, stunning Sora.

_'What! A single word and that much damage!" _

Harry grinned and ran headlong into the throng of Heartless. A shadow leapt at his right side and he stopped it with a whispered _"Immobulus!" _before setting it ablaze with a yelled _"Incendio!"_ Ignoring the smoldering Heartless he ducked under a horizontal slash aimed for his head before striking back with the cane. He was surprised when, instead of doing very little, it sent a pulse of magic at the creature and threw it into a nearby brick wall where it burst into inky, black ichor. He swirled his wand above his head and shouted _"Glacius!" _The remaining two Shadows were frozen solid in a super cold burst of magic and Harry smashed them into shards by throwing them into a wall with two Banishing Charms.

The entire fight took less then twenty seconds.

Harry exhaled, that felt good; getting that small amount of retribution for his lost home world.

"Harry, that was amazing."

Harry rubbed the back of his head as he felt himself blush.

"No, the most advanced spell I know right now was the first one, Confingo, the others are all pretty basic spells taught to eleven through fourteen year olds at my old school. Recently I had to do a lot of unwanted training for a competition I was forced into so I know a few spells above my age group. What did surprise me was the stave, I thought it was just a walking stick that could be used for emergency physical attacks."

Sora still looked impressed.

"Well, it was still cool, but we really should work together from now on."

Harry grinned.

"No problem, let's continue to the Third District."

And so they had, dispatching more Heartless on the way.

000 Perspective Shift 000

On the roof of a nearby building.

The gruff voice of the shop owner, Cid, spoke.

"Wow... Forgive me for doubting you, Merlin. I'll admit it, he's good."

"And he'll only grow stronger with more experience. From the little he told me during our talk on the way to your shop he already has more life or death combat experience than anyone should at that age."

Leon nodded and rubbed his bruised stomach where the 'Disarming Charm' hit him earlier.

Aerith looked at Yuffie out of the corner of her eye. The black haired girl was slightly flushed as she looked on Harry's form. The older girl got a wicked gleam in her eye; it looked like it was time for a 'sisterly' chat... after all, Yuffie had never shown any interest in boys before.

Yuffie noticed the gleam in her eyes and the smirk on her 'older sister's' face and gulped; she had the feeling that she was going to be embarrassed very soon.

000 Perspective Shift 000

The two young warriors arrived at the door to the Third District slightly winded; Harry had been trying to work in more physical attacks to his combat style not wanting to drive himself to magical exhaustion.

"Where did you get such good reflexes?" Asked Sora, as the two sat down and rested before moving on.

Harry ginned somewhat tiredly.

"Most everything's slow when compared to a iron ball shooting at your head doing speeds upwards of sixty miles per hour."

Sora cocked his head to the side.

"Huh?"

Harry laughed.

"I'll explain later, don't worry." The two were silent for a bit as they gained their breath. "What about you, how did you learn how to fight? Someone doesn't just pick up a sword and instantly know how to wield it."

Sora smiled at the memories.

"I spent a lot of my childhood sword fighting with my friends back on the islands so that helps, of course, I think the Keyblade itself is helping me."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

Sora shrugged.

"I don't really understand it either, I'm just going with the flow, rolling with the punches, so to speak."

Harry nodded and stood, patting the back of his robe off before extending his hand to his newest friend.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

The two pushed the double doors leading to the Third District and stepped in. It was more blue bricked buildings and seemingly empty houses. Walking down a ramp they entered a vacant lot with high walls and a golden fountain ornamented with kissing dogs.

Harry and Sora were looking around when two screams rent the night air before they were crushed to the pavement.

000 Perspective Shift 000

A tall, anthromorphic black dog looked over the railing of a balcony.

"A'hyuk!"

There was a swooping noise and an armored Soldier Heartless somersaulted from nowhere. The dog raised his blue circular shield embossed with a black circle topped with two ear-like black ovals.

"Gawrsh, are these the Heartless guys?

A short white duck brandished a mages rod that was topped with a miniature witches hat.

"Let's go get 'em, Goofy!"

Ten seconds later the two were booted off the balcony with comical ease.

The two landed on top of two other people. Looking up dazed, the duck and dog said at the same time, "The Key!"

000 Perspective Shift 000

"Uhhhhn..."

"The Key!"

Harry shoved the knight and mage off him and stood, helping Sora up as well. All four stumbled as the ground started shaking. Pillars of stone erupted from the ground and blocked all the exits to the area trapping them in a makeshift arena. All four readied their weapons as a dozen Soldier Heartless appeared from nowhere.

Sora and Harry attacked first.

Sora aimed high and jumped, striking at a leaping enemy before landing and finishing it off with a stabbing thrust and a two-handed horizontal slash. Harry whipped his wand in a slashing motion and shouted _"Diffindo!"_ A thin sickle on energy impacted against the helmeted head of a Soldier, staggering it and giving Harry enough time to close the distance and smack it into a wall using a pulse strike from his stave. Goofy readied his shield and charged his own Soldier and smashed it against a wall with a satisfyingly wet squish. Donald pointed his rod and shot a homing, _"Fire!"_ at one Heartless and followed it up with a squawked _"Thunder!"_ exploding his target and injuring a second Heartless that was then smashed against the ground by Sora.

It was nearly two minutes of furious fighting later that the last Heartless was claimed by Harry using a combination of a Summoning Charm and a Piercing Curse that drilled a hole through the little monster while it was unable to move.

The four didn't have time to celebrate their victory because six pieces of metal fell from the sky and assembled into a rough approximation of a suit of possessed armor.

Harry led off the fight by aiming his wand at the 'body' of the big Heartless and shouting _"Confringo!"_ Surprising both Sora and Harry because instead ripping a hole through the monster, the powerful Explosive Curse merely dented the Heartless' thick metal shell.

"Well that's not good..."

The armor retaliated before anyone could move and punched Harry head first into a wall which he slid down and slumped, unconscious, on the floor.

"Donald!" Yelled Goofy, "heal him!"

Donald nodded and quickly waddled his way towards their downed ally before raising his rod and screeching_ "Cure!" _

While Harry came back to the land of the waking, Goofy and Sora raised their shield and Keyblade respectively and charged with a war cry (with goofy it was more of a scared yelp.)

Harry blearily opened his eyes and, seeing his comrades fighting, stood and made a complex wand motion that transfigured one of the Guard Armor's feet into a pumpkin which couldn't support it's weight and broke apart, dropping the monster to one side.

Harry also fell to one side, the bump on his head coupled with near magical exhaustion was quickly taking it's toll on the young wizard.

Sora, seeing the -strange- sight of a vicious metal boot transform into a pumpkin, stopped fighting for a moment before looking and nodding at Harry who was using his cane to support his weight. He turned back to the Armor and began attacking in earnest.

Nearly ten minutes later the Guard Armor was beaten and the main body crumpled in on itself as a large, pink, crystal-like heart floated up towards the sky.

Sora banished his weapon before running over to his panting ally and helping him stand, throwing his (Harry's) arm over his (Sora's) shoulders. Donald came and collected Harry's stave and wand while Goofy threw Harry's other arm over his shoulders. Together, the three escorted the one back to Cid's in the first district.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

In a dark room in a castle somewhere several ominous figures were watching a projection of the heroes procession back to safety.

A angry voice broke the eerie silence.

"That little squirt took down that Heartless! Who'd have thought it?"

The owner of the voice slammed his fist on the stone dais he and his contemporaries surrounded.

A regal voice replied.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own."

A woman's voice suggested.

"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough."

"And the brat's friends are the King's lackeys and Merlin's own chosen wizard. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them," snarled the slightly French accented voice of a particularly tall shadow.

"You're no prize yourself," Snarked a fat shadow before laughing.

The tall shadow pulled something made of metal out of a sheath and brandished it in the face of the fat shadow.

"Shut up!" Threatened the voice.

"-Enough!"

Maleficent and Lord Voldemort stepped out of the shadows. The Mistress of Evil had her raven perched on her scepter and Voldemort had Nagini draped over his shoulders, the wand in his hand was emitting green sparks as his disciples stood sentinel at the doorway, also with wands out.

"The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the Darkness? Or will the Darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful..."

She turned to Voldemort who was staring at the stilled projection of his one time nemesis with such fury that if he had a worthless follower or a muggle around he would've tortured them into insanity.

"Lord Voldemort?"

"So..."Hissed the Dark Lord. "It seems that Harry Potter has also lived through the destruction of his world. I'll have to remedy that soon..." Voldemort dissapeared in a cloud of black smog and his apprentices followed.

(AN: Think movieverse version of disapparition.)

Maleficent nodded and left in a burst of green fire.

There was an extended silence until the fat shadow spoke up.

"Those two creep me out..."

The other shadows made noises of agreement.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

Sora, Cid, Aerith, Leon, Donald, and Goofy were sitting in the foyer of Cid's Odd's and Ends Shop.

"So you were looking for me?"

The anthromorphic animals nodded and made 'uh huh' noises.

Leon leaned off from the wall he was leaning on.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade."

"Hey," spoke Goofy, "why don't you come with us. We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

Sora didn't get a chance to respond because Merlin and Yuffie exited out of a spare room where Harry was recovering. If anyone noticed Yuffie's slightly red-rimmed eyes no one was insensitive enough to comment.

"How is he?" Asked Sora in concern.

It was Yuffie who answered.

"He's sleeping, he had a terrible lump on his head that caused a concussion and Merlin said he was already pushed to his limit when he 'Transfigured that infernal metal boot into a pumpkin'. "

Everyone was silent for a moment until Merlin started speaking.

"Sora won't be able to go with you two."

Both Donald and Goofy turned incredulous expressions to the wizened wizard.

"But our mission-" began Donald.

"-Has changed," interrupted Merlin, "you have new orders, I don't know what they are, you'll have to go see the Kings old teacher, Yen Sid, in his tower to receive them. As for accompanying Sora, I believe my Apprentice, Harry James Potter, will do nicely."

"Apprentice!" Shouted Donald.

"Yes, he has proved himself more than worthy, It's my hope to teach him all I can while I get Cid to build them a ship," He turned to the gruff blond who nodded his acceptance, "and Leon, If I could trouble you to teach Sora some proper swordsmanship..." Leon nodded. "Very good, And I'm sure Yuffie will be more than happy to nurse Harry back to health..." He trailed off suggestively with a sly grin.

Yuffie blushed and Aerith giggled.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

The departure of Donald and Goofy was a quiet affair, both Sora and Harry thanked the duo for their assistance against the Guard Armor and afterwards the two's training began in earnest.

In the beginning, Sora had tried casting a fire spell that Aerith taught him but the weak spurt of heat that dribbled from the end of the Keyblade was just plain embarrassing. Later, Sora would tell Harry that shortly before his world's destruction he had a dream in which he was asked to pick a weapon and then give something up in return and Sora had picked the sword and gave up a jeweled mages rod. In his off time he would wonder if this had any thing to do with his disposition for the mystical arts but in the end it didn't matter as Sora just didn't have any talent for magic. After that, he totally threw himself into studying swordsmanship with Squall.

Harry, on the other hand, attended lectures from Merlin and learned the basics of how to fight with his stave from Aerith who had used a staff as her weapon for as long as anyone could remember, while spending increasing amounts of time alone with Yuffie talking about everything and nothing.

Harry and Sora would also spend time together sparring against eachother and patrolling the town against Heartless.

Just before Cid finished Sora's and Harry's new Gummyship Merlin taught Harry one spell, Cure, it was a field healing spell that would keep them alive until they could find a place away from enemies where Harry could attempt a more specialized Healing Charm or they downed a potion.

Finally, a week after their training began, the Traverse Town Defenders were called to Cid's accessory shop. The group were called into a room under Cid's shop where a large -thing- was covered by a white sheet of cloth.

"It's about time you lot got back here. I finished the ship over an hour ago."

He gripped the cover and looked around dramatically before pulling on the sheet revealing an aerodynamic white ship that looked like a arrow with wings.

"I give you the Nautilus!"

He chuckled at their less than impressed reaction.

"Don't you worry, this is just the basic starting model, once you bring me more rare gummy blocks I'll do some upgrades. But this should get you from 'A' to 'B' without a problem."

Harry and Sora approached their new home away from Traverse Town with curious caution.

"The Nautilus is nearly fully automated, all you have to do is imput commands on the targeting computer and then man the weapons. Remember that Heartless are also using ships to sail the 'Verse and they will attack you if they get the chance."

Both Sora and Harry nodded and Merlin stepped up.

"Harry, Sora, I wish we could give you more training but there isn't enough time. But I will say this; Help will always be granted here to those who seek it-"

Harry had a flashback to his second year when Dumbledore was temporarily sacked from his position as Headmaster.

_'-you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me… Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.' _

Sora roughly shook Harry's shoulder.

"You okay?"

Harry put on a smile.

"Yeah..."

"-Now, I want you two to gather any items you think you may need, you're all dismissed."

Harry left, thinking pensively.

_'If any wizard was strong enough to survive the end of the world it'd be Dumbledore. I'll add him to my 'to find' list.' _

"Harry!" He was pulled from his thoughts by Yuffie who was biting her bottom lip in her nerves. "Come with me?"

Harry nodded and the two set off at a brisk pace. They eventually made their way to the roof of the buildings forming the wall between the First District and the Second District. Harry saw that the normally cheerful and boisterous Yuffie was reserved and contemplative.

Harry reached out and touched her arm, it had taken a while to get used to Yuffie's many spontaneous hugs but now Harry was addicted; seeking from her all the gentle physical contact he was deprived of while living at the Dursley's.

"Yuffie, what's wrong?"

That must of been the wrong thing to say because she turned on her heel and Harry was astonished that she was glaring at him.

"What's wrong? Harry you're leaving, off to help the Keybearer of all people on a quest to save all worlds and charged by bloody (She had taken to Harry's swear words like a fish to water) Merlin of to destroy the two darkest Sorcerer's in the entire 'Verse. Harry, the chances of total success are so slim it's insane, I don't want to see you hurt; I cried for an hour when you came in with that concussion after fighting the Guard Armor. Harry, I never cry! Do you know how much that surprised me? And now we've spent so much time together learning about eachother and I'm afraid that you'll get hurt and I won't be able to help you nor will I get to tell you how much you really mean to me."

She grasped Harry's hand, stared into his shocked face and took a deep, steadying breath, her cheeks flaming like the setting sun.

"Harry, I like you. As in more than a friend should like a friend. You're the first boy I've ever had these feeling for and I don't really know what to do..."

She looked away, biting her lower lip between her teeth.

Even the perpetually dense about women Harry knew that now would be the ideal time to reveal his feelings. He cupped Yuffie's chin with his thumb and index finger and gently guided it up so her could stare into her open and vulnerable eyes.

"Yuffie, when I woke in that room I was almost immediately taken in by your energy and the feeling of happiness that seemed to radiate off you. I felt bad for a few days because I was happy that you cared enough about me to cry for me after I was hurt. And after getting to know you I can honestly say that I'm glad you have these feelings for me, Yuffie, because I like you too."

A sparkle of happiness appeared in the young ninja's dark, exotic, eyes as she jumped forward and hugged him, putting her head in the crook of his neck and inhaling his scent of wood polish and evergreen leaves.

Harry breathed in the fragrance of her cherry blossom shampoo that he had grown to associate with only her and smiled.

"Yuffie, would you be my girlfriend?"

The girl nodded her head in a way reminiscent of the enthusiastic House-Elf, Dobby.

"I'd really like that..."

In some unspoken agreement the two teens leaned forward at the same time and their lips met in their collective first kisses. It was clumsy; they bumped noses, and Harry's glasses were knocked out of the way in their nerves. In both of their opinions it was absolutely perfect and they wouldn't change a thing if they could.

Some time later, the two teens were laying on the shingled roof they had the first of many innocent (and one not so innocent) kisses on. Yuffie had gathered her courage and laid her head on Harry's shoulder as he ran his hand up and down her back giving her pleasurable shivers and goose bumps.

"Do ya' know something?" Began Yuffie quietly. "I've never really been happy with myself. No matter how much training I go through, no matter how many Heartless I take out, I still see myself as the frightened little girl who was helpless to do anything to stop the Darkness as it tore my world apart. The only reason I didn't die right then was because Squall, Aerith, and Cid saved me."

Harry stopped rubbing her back and pulled her on top of him so he could look at her face to face.

"Now, I may have a slight bias, but I think you're brilliant. The fact that you put yourself in training tells me that you're determined to better yourself and I think it's impressive that you can still joke around as well. The last year before the end of my world I was entered unwillingly into a tournament designed for older students at my school. It was a binding contract despite the fact that I never actually agreed to anything. I had to do three challenging tasks and during the last one, I, as well as a friend of mine, was kidnapped and, after I watched him die, I was used in a dark magic ritual to restore the person who killed my parents to a physical body. He and Maleficent brought the Heartless to the heart of my world and practically handed it to them on a silver platter."

Tears were running down both Yuffie's and Harry's cheeks.

"And ya' know what?"

She shook her head and Harry used the pad of his thumbs to wipe away her tears.

"I was terrified, I had more experience than any other student and many adults when it came to dealing with dark magic and I still wanted to curl into a ball and give up, I wanted to lay down and die. You were a child, just a little girl, and you lived, act of older people aside, you still lived long enough to be rescued. I've learned something since appearing here, I've learned a little about these acts of magic that subtly guide us to the best possible outcome; you lived and I lived, and we both made our way here which means that we were meant to meet, meant to become friends, just like I was meant to help the Keybearer to the best possible outcome, and that is a very encouraging thought because I feel that magic itself will allow nothing else."

Yuffie buried her head in Harry's chest and released her pent up emotions in the form of healing tears as Harry rubbed her back and looked at the stars, pondering what the fates have in store for him.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

The two teenage boys stood at the town gates surrounded by their new friends.

"Are you two ready?"

Sora and Harry nodded and Yuffie approached.

"Harry," she said softly and in a way that it caused some raised eyebrows from Leon, Cid, and Sora, "Come back alright? Don't be a stranger."

Harry smiled and stepped close to her, grasping her hand, he intertwined their fingers and pulled her to him allowing her to wrap her other arm around him.

By this point in time most of the watchers were uncomfortable and wanted to say something but a -scary- glare from the normally gentle Aerith stopped them cold.

"Of course I'll come back, I have every reason too, don't I?"

Yuffie smile.

"Yeah."

She let him go and stepped back to Aerith's side and let the older girl put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Remember those techniques I taught you," began Squall, "Dodge Roll is a useful ability Sora, as is Scan for you Harry."

Sora and Harry nodded as Aerith approached the two and handed them a rucksack.

"It has a few healing potions, a tent, and a couple ethers for you, Harry. Use them carefully, alright."

Harry and Sora looked at each other with grimly determined expressions.

"We will," spoke the two in unison before they boarded the Nautilus and Yuffie took a few steps forward.

"Be careful!" She yelled as the cockpit closed.

Sora and Harry waved and the ship's boosters kicked in, lifting them into the 'Verse and out of sight.

Yuffie tried to discreetly rub the tears from the corner of her eyes as Aerith wrapped her in a hug from behind.

"He'll be alright."

Yuffie nodded, finally allowing herself to believe.

000 Chapter End 000

Author's Note:

Hello all, Faffy here with a new story. This time it's a Kingdom Hearts/Harry Potter crossover. I had a little trouble trying to mesh the two different styles of magic but after figuring it out everything flowed really well. I got the idea for this story when I thought 'What would happen if Voldemort and Maleficent teamed up?' and this is what my brain answered with.

About Harry/Yuffie:  
>At first I wasn't sure if I wanted a HarryFleur or a Harry/Yuffie but in the end I decided the later would be for the best. My Harry/Fleur story will come, I just need to figure out how I want to deliver it.

About The Two Parties:  
>I didn't want Harry to team up with Goofy, Donald, and Sora because the balance would be messed up. They'd have a swordsman, a defender, and two wizards who can basically do the same thing. By splitting them up I can have Donald and Goofy explore other worlds and allow for more interaction with characters from the different worlds. I think Harry's sometimes brooding personality will mesh well with Sora's cheerful disposition.<p>

Send me your ideas about how you want the story to go and remember to review please. If you like this you should check out my other stories.

-Faffy Out.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: If it's not obvious, I don't own Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts. That's why I post on a Fanfiction website.

Chapter Two

Wonderland

Sora leaned back in his oscillating chair as he stared deep into the starry blackness of the 'Verse.

"So, what are our options?"

Harry turned away from a console.

"Well, I'm no great shakes at technology but the Targeting Computer is pretty simple to read."

Indeed it was, the TC was just a touch screen that showed available paths that used an advanced form of maths -something about Prediction Algorithms that flew over Harry's head- to figure out the level of hostile Heartless at the destination,

"We have two paths, one leads us to a one star world, which I'm guessing means the Heartless are weaker, and another path that leads to a two star world."

Sora grinned,"our destinations are numbered?"

Harry grinned back, "then I guess that we should go in order, yeah?"

At once, the two young heroes selected their destination and slipped into the two weapon platforms on either side of the basic looking yet functional cockpit.

"Three," began Sora.

"Two," continued Harry.

They said the next line together.

"One, blast off!"

The Nautilus groaned and shuddered before it's boosters fired and it shot forward into the horizon.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

The Nautilus blinked into existence orbiting above a rather pink planet.

Harry sat in his seat after disengaging the laser cannons he employed against many Heartless ships.

"That was a wild ride!"

Sora walked over and sat in the seat across from Harry's, he was flushed in the face from the exhilarating experience.

"Better than Quidditch?"

During the trip they had talked more on what they liked to do in their spare time; naturally, this included a detailed explanation of the wizarding world's most popular sport.

"Definitely, don't get me wrong, I'll never turn down a game of Quidditch but that was just so much... More!"

"I know," agreed Sora, "we didn't have anything like that on the Islands so that was a new experience."

They sat in silence as they came down from their respective adrenaline rushes.

"So," said Harry as he grabbed his knees for leverage and stood up before walking over the the Targeting Computer, "let's see what this thing has to say about the planet now that we're closer."

Sora also stood and looked over Harry's shoulder as he muddled through the procedures to send a probe to the surface of the world to gather information. It was a few minutes later that they received even basic intel and the TC printed out a sheet of paper.

"That world's name is Wonderland and it's ruled over by a Queen..."

Harry turned over the paper over trying to find anything else but was dismayed to discover an absence of anything noteworthy.

"What does the ship want us to do; go in blind? I don't wanna' do that-" spoke Harry aloud before finishing his sentence in his mind _'-that's what got Cedric killed.' _

Sora, oblivious to Harry's inner turmoil, said almost cheerfully: "Oh well, ready to go?"

Harry sighed and set the paper on the 'dash board' of the cockpit.

"Yeah, let's go."

The two walked over to the transporter that would take them down to the surface of the planet.

000 Scene Change/Time Skip 000

Sora and Harry materialized on an expanse of green grass spreading out from an ancient and gnarled looking oak tree, there was nothing in the distance; just bright blue sky and more grass, Harry wondered where the sun was because he couldn't see one to provide the glaring light.

"Is this it? There's nothing here!" Wondered Sora.

"I don't know mayb-"

The ground started shaking and the two had enough time to look down before the patch of shady grass they were standing on opened up and Harry and Sora fell through. The hole was dark, and the only light came from the outside world. Harry tried to grab a root that was jutting out from the dirt but he missed and instead slammed into an old bookcase, dislodging it and making him recoil into Sora who was knocked into a grand piano that had been floating near to the other side of the ever-widening hole.

"What's happening!" Shouted Sora as he rubbed his bruised shoulder.

"I don't know! Just give me a minute!"

Harry pulled his wand and yelled the incantation for the Freezing Charm (Immobulus) that Hermione had taught Ron and him earlier in the school year, making the falling debris stop it's descent as if it slammed into an invisible wall.

"That's great," praised the Keybearer, "but we'll still go splat unless we can slow down."

"I'm trying! I need to see the ground to do this!"

The two did their best to avoid touching the walls and dislodging more furniture. Harry saw the ground approaching and made a motion with his wand similar to a capitalized 'S' _"Spongify!" _

Harry tucked his wand into his body to protect the thin stick of wood as they hit, and sunk into, what he thought was the ground. Instead of the floor only sinking in about a foot, the two kept going until, at nearly ten feet in, the 'floor' was stretched to it's limits and ripped open and they again started falling, only this time it was but a few feet before they hit the very solid floor.

Dazed, Harry looked up and saw the ceiling knitting itself back together and, in a few moments, it was blemish free as if two teens had not crashed through it scant seconds ago.

"What the hell..." murmured Harry; the first 'ground' they crashed into was actually the ceiling to the room they were in.

Harry shook his head; this was going to be an odd day!

Harry looked over at his companion who had been lying spread eagle but was slowly picking himself up and dusting himself off.

He walked over to Harry and helped him up.

"Spongify?"

Harry shrugged.

"It's a first year Charm that's supposed to be reviewed in second year Defense Class when you're not being taught by an incompetent ninny, the spell is meant to soften an impact, but..."

He pointed to the spotless ceiling and shrugged.

Sora shook a little plaster out of his wildly spiky hair and looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"Incompetent ninny?"

Harry rolled his eyes skyward.

"That wasn't the best year for Defense Against the Dark Arts Class; our 'teacher' was an 'author' and was too busy trying to sell his bloody books to actually teach us anything useful."

Harry shook his head in annoyance as he pocketed his wand.

"Anyway, where are we?"

For the first time the two intrepid teens looked at their surroundings.

The walls were made of red brick and had a few tapestries haphazardly thrown up at odd angles. The floor had differently shaped and sized red and pink tile. Off to one side of the room on floor there was a painting of a couch and end table that was laughable in it's absurdity.

Before Harry could examine anything more in detail the two teens heard a harried, high-pitched voice scrambling to complete it's morning rituals.

"Oh, my fur and whisker's! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

A white rabbit dressed in a red velvet waistcoat came scrambling from a little door that, when close, looked no different from any wall panel. He extracted from an inner pocket of his coat a large gold watch on a chain. Looking at it, he squeaked in fright.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there!"

Sora and Harry looked at each other with raised eyebrows as the rabbit started scurrying down a crooked hallway.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The Queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

The rabbit passed out of sight but both Harry and Sora could still hear the creature's frightened ramblings.

Shrugging to each other, the keybearer and wizard followed. The came to a big, light blue door that swung open on it's own to reveal a slightly more normal sized one and Harry felt himself sigh; he was correct in his earlier thought, this was going to be a strange day! Sora could barely content himself with how excited this place was making him; he really liked the abnormal.

Walking through the doorway the two boys saw the white rabbit duck into a door that neither Harry nor Sora would be able to fit through.

If Harry wasn't a wizard he would question how the room he was standing in was built. On the floor was more of those paintings of furniture and each of the pink walls looked like a floor all on their own. The few pieces of real furniture were all sized for a small child. The room gave Harry the feeling of being trapped in a little girl's doll house.

Harry noticed Sora muttering something as he approached the small door the rabbit disappeared behind and Harry followed him.

Both boy's knelt at the tiny door.

"How did he get so small?"

Sora jumped back in surprise and knocked Harry over as the doorknob opened it's eyes and came to life.

"No," said the Doorknob, "you're simply too big."

Harry couldn't hold in a surprised exclamation of, "It talks!"

The Doorknob yawned, stretching it's keyhole-like mouth.

"Must you be so loud? You woke me up."

Sora smiled and waved.

"Good morning."

"Good night!" Retorted the Doorknob, "I need a bit more sleep."

Sora thrust his hand out to grab the doorknob's attention and stall for time.

"Wait," said Sora as he got on his hands and knees to be on the Doorknob's same field of vision, "what do we have to do to grow small?"

The Doorknob yawned again and said, "Why don't you try the bottle... over there?"

As he said the last two words the painting of a white table and chair transformed into an actual table and chair in a poof of white smoke. The table had two bottles sitting on it; a red and orange one and a blue and yellow one. Harry was instantly on edge; he didn't want to drink anything this messed up world supplied.

Sora, apparently, had no compunctions about it and thanked the dozing Doorknob, strode the the table, and drank the dubious concoction.

Harry darted to the table as Sora disappeared in a cloud of sparkly, white smoke. Harry looked around wildly, he couldn't see his newest friend.

"Harry!"

Said boy looked down at the quietly yelled greeting. Sora was tiny, five inches tall, and standing right as rain in the middle of the white table waving excitedly at the ticked off wizard.

"It's fine, take a drink and join me!"

Harry grudgingly complied and waited for the uncomfortable feeling of being miniaturized to go away. Sora walked up to Harry with his hands behind his head and an easygoing grin on his face. Harry frowned at Sora.

"Why the hell did you do that?"

Sora was puzzled, what had he done wrong?

"What?"

"Drink that bloody potion! Does this place look normal to you? That could've been anything, done anything to you! Potions were never my best subject but I know enough to tell if something is really what it's supposed to be. So next time we have to drink or eat something strange to advance let me do my wizardly duties and make sure what you're ingesting won't rot you from the inside out!"

"Sorry..."

To his credit, Sora looked truly abashed and Harry regretted snapping at him.

Harry sighed.

"It's fine..."

Harry broke the awkward silence that followed.

"Speaking of wizardly duties, you hurt your shoulder on the way down that hole, right?"

Sora nodded reluctantly and rolled his shoulder producing a wince.

"Yeah, I was going to take a sip of potion when we got back to the gummyship but until then I was just going to tuff it out."

Harry held up his cane, _"Cure!"_ Three green leaves materialized and swirled around Sora's arm emitting a warm green light.

Sora rolled his arm again and grinned.

"Thanks! You ready to go?"

Harry smiled, his anger leaving as quickly as it came.

"Yeah."

The two walked to the edge of the table that, when they were normal sized, would only go up to their waists, but was now nearly a cliff in their shrunken states.

Sora looked at Harry.

"Know any magic to help get us down?"

Harry chuckled; he'd asked for wizardly duties.

"Yeah, just jump and I'll use the same Softening Charm on the ground, hopefully we don't break through again." He looked to Sora, "you ready?"

Sora nodded and the two took a running leap off the table top. Making the same 'S' shape as earlier he shouted, _"Spongify!" _The boys landed and sank into the ground absorbing the shock before the charm wore off leaving them standing on the floor no worse for wear facing a very large fireplace.

"That's a useful spell."

Harry nodded, he never thought he'd need it so much.

A swooshing noise sounded from their left and both teens drew their weapons. Neither Harry nor Sora had ever seen these types of Heartless before; along with an assortment of basic Shadow and Soldier Heartless they were accompanied by six, flying, bell type Heartless that had a little yellow witches hat covering it's black face. Three were blue and three were red.

Sora was already in motion.

He lunged forward and stabbed out at the nearest Soldier before turning and whacking at a Shadow that had sneaked behind him. Turning back to his original prey he instead saw a ball of fire heading towards his face. Harry had a Shield Charm on the tip of his tongue when Sora seemed to do a sort of high speed somersault and dodged out of the way, letting the fire ball hit a blue, bell-like Heartless that died in one hit; Harry now understood what Leon meant about the Dodge Roll ability being useful.

Harry decided to take out the magic wielding enemies first. Bringing his wand to bear on another blue bell-like Heartless he said _"Incendio!"_ A swath of fire burst from the tip of his wand and literally melted the blue bell. With only one blue bell-like Heartless left he was determined to find out what it's name was. Harry hefted his cane and waved it in front of his eyes and whispered, _"Libra!"_ Instantly, Harry could tell that the Heartless, Blue Rhapsody and Red Nocturn respectively, had very little by means of vitality and used it's powers of flight to attack opponents from afar using magic that matched it's body color. Harry quickly dispatched the remaining four magic using enemies with one more _"Incendio!"_ and a few spoken Glacuis Charms. Harry turned back to Sora, he had finished the physical, land based Heartless and let Harry use long range abilities to take out the flying enemies.

"You get hurt?"

Sora shook his head.

"Nah, didn't even touch me."

Harry nodded.

The two looked around for even more enemies. Finding none, they started looking around, next to the small door a small green bed jutted from the wall. Curious, Harry motioned for Sora to follow, the trek to the other side of the room was slower going because instead of it being a few feet it was more like a mile with how small they were, more delays came with the appearance of even more Heartless.

Finally they reached the bed and walked under it. Looking around, Sora pointed out a dark hole in the wall behind the headboard. Telling Harry, the two decided to enter and investigate.

The dark hole actually turned out to be a short tunnel that led to an outdoor court lined with high hedges. Eight living playing cards stood sentinel with spears shaped like red upside down hearts and black spades.

They heard the tooting of a horn and looked at the white rabbit.

"Court is now in session! Her Majesty, The Queen of Hearts, presiding!"

The Queen was a round faced woman who had a naturally sneering face. She was wearing a red and black dress with a heart-shaped bodice and a large white collar. She had a small crown perched on her head and her black hair was pulled into a severe bun. In her hand she had what looked like a wand topped with a red heart.

In the podium for the accused stood a young blonde haired girl wearing an old fashioned blue dress and a white apron.

The Queen opened her beady black eyes and her sneer grew more pronounced, as if she considered everyone else to be below her. "This girl is the culprit," she started off in a whisper, "there's no doubt about it." The Queen leaned forward and Harry was sure he wouldn't like what came next. "And the reason is... because I say so that's why!" She waved her pudgy hand and Harry growled but before he could say something the blonde girl stood up for herself making Harry smile.

"That is so unfair!"

The Queen, upset that someone would defend themselves from her, leaned back and crossed her fat arms. "Well, have you anything to say in your defense?"

The blonde girl leaned forward. "Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" The cards and the white rabbit looked at one another nervously while the young girl continued, undaunted. "You may be Queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!"

The Queen's sneer dropped during the girl's speech and was instead replaced by genuine anger. "SILENCE!" The Queen slammed her fists on her judges podium. "You dare defy me?"

Both Harry and Sora moved their hands getting ready to pull their weapons.

"The court findes the defendant," she pointed her heart covered wand at the girl, "guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and the attempted theft of my heart. **Off with her head!" **

The defendant's eyes widened with fear.

"Oh no! Please!"

The ax wielding playing cards started moving in on the girl and even though it wasn't planned, both Sora and Harry started moving at the same time.

"Hold it right there!"

Sora and Harry burst through the crowd of cards.

"Who are you?" Demanded the Queen. "How dare you interfere with my court!"

Harry stepped up.

"Excuse me." Said the Brit, working his charming accent for all he could. "But we know who the real culprit is!"

Sora nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, it's the Heartless!"

The Queen raised an eyebrow and leaned back while crossing her arms, curiosity apparent on her unpleasant face.

"Heartless? What is a Heartless?"

Sora and Harry looked at each other nervously.

"Very well. Bring me proof of these Heartless and I'll release the defendant."

The cards grabbed the girl by her arms and pulled her to a golden cage with Harry and Sora following behind. They looked into the frightened face of the little girl and Harry smiled in an attempt to put her at ease.

"Hi, My name's Harry. What's your's?"

She answered in a quiet voice, "I'm Alice."

Sora knelt before the girl that he guessed was ten or eleven years old.

"We're going to find proof that you're innocent. So don't you worry, 'kay."

Alice, upon getting a look at Sora's confident face, blushed.

"O-okay."

Sora and Harry turned and walked away.

"Where should we go?"

Sora shrugged his shoulders.

"All we need to do is catch a Heartless," He looked to Harry, "know any magic to take something alive?"

"I don't know if it'll do any thing to them but I could try the Stunning Charm."

Sora nodded and led the way to the side door partially hidden by a hedge. Exiting the door in the next room, Harry looked around. It seemed to be an indoor forest, blades of grass taller than himself made pockets along the walls. The ground was a rusty red color with a few ponds painted on the floor like the furniture in the room with the little door. To their right was a platform like stump of wood. Lotus flowers lined walls made from tall, stiff, blades of grass. They took a few steps in and were surrounded by Heartless.

Sora, knowing that they were trying to capture the beasts, pulled his weapon out and stayed still, letting Harry do his thing.

_"Stupefy!"_ The familiar red bolt of magic lanced towards a basic Shadow Heartless, hitting it square in the face. The rabbit-like being of darkness slumped to the ground and Harry grinned until the thing sank into a pool of darkness and popped back out right as rain. Growling, he tried the same on a Soldier, only for it to happen again; it seemed as though he couldn't stun them.

_"Incarcerous!"_ Chords burst from the tip of Harry's wand and tightly wound themselves around the body of a Soldier only for the Heartless to cut his way out of the binds with his claws. Frustrated, Harry brandished his wand and fired a Reductor Curse into the nearest Heartless.

Sora, seeing Harry give up, fell upon the Heartless like a terrible storm and, nearly a minute later, the beasts were dead and Harry sat on the ground trying to figure out what to do. Sora approached him and also sat down. They had been thinking on their problem for a while when they heard a voice come from nowhere.

_"Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!" _

Harry could practically hear the grin in the voice.

Sora stood and called out to the air.

"Who are you?"

The voice snickered and Harry also stood up.

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!"

A pink and purple cat phased into existence on the tree stump, it's mouth in an impossibly wide grin.

_"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers -but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness." _

The cat phased into nothingness again.

"Wait!" Called Sora, Stretching his hand up in an attempt to grab the Cheshire Cat's attention.

The Cat's grinning voice sounded from nowhere.

_"They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There is one piece of evidence to find and it'll be tricky, big reward for the one who finds it.." _

Harry turned to Sora.

"Should we trust him?"

_"To trust or not to trust, I'll trust you'll decide..." _

Sora turned to Harry.

"Well," he said with a grin, "Shall we go?"

Harry nodded and held his wand flat in the palm of his hand, _"Point Me, Evidence!"_ The wand spun in his hand once before pointing deeper into the woods.

Sora approached and looked over Harry's shoulder.

"What was that?"

Harry gestured for Sora to follow him.

"That was a spell that my friend Hermione modified. The Four-Point Spell normally only points to the North-"

"-Like a compass?"

Harry nodded.

"Yes. Hermione modified the spell so it'll act similar to a dowsing rod. I just use the Incantation and finish it with what I want to find, I have to focus on what I want like a Summoning Charm or else it will fail."

"Sounds useful."

"You'd think. But it's very easy to disrupt, I was actually surprised it worked on the first try."

Sora and Harry walked deeper into the tall grass peering about for Heartless or any evidence of Heartless activity. Harry again cast his modified Four-Point Spell and they altered their course even deeper into the woods.

A parting in the grass showed a hedged garden set up for afternoon tea and the back door to a thatched cottage. There didn't seem to be any Heartless around so both Sora and Harry put their weapons away in the hopes of resting for a bit. Walking to the head of the table, Harry spied a piece of stationary and picked it up.

_Help yourselves to afternoon tea and cake, and a very merry un-birthday to you all. _

Harry looked to Sora and shrugged.

"You hungry?"

Sora nodded as his stomach growled.

Both warriors sat and drank from their cups (Harry more warily) and waited from something bad to happen. When all was quiet Harry put a slice of pink, frosted cake onto his plate. Quirking his eyebrow at Sora who shrugged, Harry took a bite and waited. Grinning, Sora and Harry gleefully finished off their cake and tea and made to leave when nearly a dozen Heartless appeared from the great darkness.

Sora summoned his keyblade and struck out at the nearest Soldier before Dodge Rolling out of the way of a Shadow's leaping slash. Harry pulled his wand and summoned that Shadow to him before smacking it into a wall using his cane. Sora, came out of his roll in a crouch and attacked the same Soldier in the back while Harry lit one on fire with a shouted, _"Incendio!" _

It took nearly five minutes of exhaustive fighting to clear the garden of Heartless and both swordsman and wizard slumped to the floor back to back when they were safe.

"Is it me," panted Sora, "or were those Heartless harder to kill?"

"It's not you," Harry shook his head in an attempt to clear it; he had used more magic than he should have during that fight, "my spells were doing less damage to them too."

Sora made to stand when the ground started shaking which sent him tumbling to the floor with a groan.

Harry was about to help him sit up when the rumbling stopped and a new Heartless appeared; It was large, only the Guard Armor had been bigger, rotund and it seemed to be wearing a maroon vest that was closed in front with yellow rope. It had massive arms and hands, short legs, huge feet and a tiny armored head.

(AN: Can anyone say Midboss?)

"Oh, Shi-"

Sora didn't get to finish his swear because the Heartless reached them with surprising speed.

Harry found strength he didn't know he had left and tumbled to the right and avoided the Heartless' punch. Sora wasn't so lucky because he took the attack in his chest, knocking the breath from his body and throwing him into the wall of the thatched cottage.

Harry, seeing the still body of his friend, furiously brandished his wand in the direction of the Heartless that was in the process of turning around to face him, _"Confringo!"_ The same purple grenade of energy lanced from his wand and impacted the Heartless on the stomach where it deflected into one of the hedges, blowing a gaping hole in the foliage.

Harry fell to one knee blinking black spots from his vision, he was still tired from the last fight and the Explosive Curse put him dangerously close to passing out. Reaching into the pouch Merlin enchanted for him, Harry extracted a small glass bottle who's label simply read, "Ether."

Harry was lucky the beast didn't seem too bright because while it wasted time slowly looking around and scratching its helmeted head, Harry unstoppered the bottle and drank it's contents. The medicine tasted like nothing and had the consistency of vegetable oil, making Harry grimace as it slowly slid down his throat. The young wizard felt energy surge through his veins as his vision sharpened and he grew more alert.

Tightening his grip on his wand, Harry waved his cane over his eyes and whispered, _"Libra!"_ Harry was already moving as the magic fed him information on his powerful adversary, the Large Body. Dashing behind the enemy, Harry transfigured one of the tables splintered chairs into a flock of canary's which he commanded to swoop around and take the Large Body's attention away from him. Kneeling at Sora's barely stirring form, Harry raised his stave and whispered, _"Cure!"_ The three glowing, green, leaves appeared and swirled around his downed ally's head in an unfelt wind.

Sora moaned and put his arm over his eyes in order to shield them from the glaring light.

"Wake up, Sora!"

The Keybearer moved his arm and sat up slowly.

"Wh-What, happened?" Moaned Sora. "Did anyone get the license plate of that gummyship?"

Harry grinned while he helped Sora stand before reaching into his pouch and pulling out another bottle that he handed to his woozy friend.

"A potion?"

Harry shrugged.

"My healing magic must not have been enough to totally heal you. Drink that and you'll be able to fight again."

Sora uncorked the glass vial, downed his medicine, and Harry snickered while Sora made a disgusted face, shuddering through it's horrible consistency.

"Not much better than the ether, then?"

Sora shook his head quickly as if clearing it.

"What is that thing?"

Harry turned back to the Heartless that had just finished smacking the last of the yellow canary's out of the air.

"Scan tells me that it's called a Large Body, and that physical attacks and force spells like Confringo and Expulso are useless when aimed at it's front."

Sora looked to Harry and cocked his eyebrow in question when he saw his friend grin.

"You have a plan?"

Harry nodded.

"I do."

The Large Body looked at Harry and Sora and gave an unmistakable start; it seemed as though, in his effort to catch the birds, it had forgotten about the two biggest threats to it's continued existence.

"I'll distract it with elemental spells while you get behind it and wail on it's back."

Sora grinned.

"Simple and clean, I like it."

(AN: *Snicker*)

The Heartless charged at Sora and Harry and the two broke apart; Harry went left and fired the Fire-Making Charm at it's side. Harry was glad to see that his spell actually hurt the beast. Sora rolled under and behind the Large Body as it was distracted and started attacking in earnest with his keyblade.

It took several variations of the same strategy to finally kill the beast and both Sora and Harry dropped to their hands and knees when the Large Body faded into darkness as it's captured heart simply floated above the canopy of the forest before disappearing in a burst of light.

"That was ridiculous."

Sora nodded stiffly.

"I really hope there aren't anymore of them around."

This time it was Harry's turn to nod stiffly.

The two stood shakily and they each downed another potion and ether. Harry frowned; they only had a few more of each and Harry was certain that they'd need them before leaving this planet.

After conveying his concerns to Sora, who agreed, they both walked forward and, at once, opened the door to the cottage. Harry sighed, the door led to the room that reminded him of a doll house. Only... they were standing on what used to be a ceiling but was now the floor, and the old floor was now the ceiling. On one side of the wall (which Harry assumed was just another floor) was the chimney to the fireplace and parallel to that was a ramp. Between them were two light purple endtables on which sat two unlit oil lamps.

"Whoa..."

Harry turned to his whimsical friend and shook his head, a grin forming on his face.

"Come on, Sora. Let's find the evidence."

Walking forward, the two were attacked by a group of Shadows, Soldiers, and Red Nocturnes that were easy enough to dispatch without leaving the two too winded.

"I don't see anything too suspicious, do you?"

Harry shook his head.

"No, but I think we should find the other entrances to this room, something tells me that we'll need to search the walls as well."

Sora put his hands behind his head.

"Maybe we should split up, meet back at the Queen's palace in an hour?"

"You sure?"

Sora nodded.

"Yeah, you heard the cat, the evidence we need is going to be hard to find, maybe if we split up we can find it quicker and free Alice sooner."

Harry nodded and handed Sora three potions before they each took a different direction.

000 Perspective Shift 000

Yuffie missed her boyfriend terribly, she should've insisted on going with them. Even though she knew Harry could handle himself she was still worried.

The young Ninja turned around sharply and drew her weapon, a large four-point ninja star that could both be used as a thrown weapon or a chakram, as she heard the sound of shifting roof shingles. Yuffie relaxed when, instead of a Heartless, it was Aerith.

Without speaking, the older girl sat next to the dejected ninja and wrapped her arm around Yuffie's shoulders like she used to do when the younger girl was just a child.

"Talk to me."

Yuffie sighed and leaned on Aerith's shoulder.

"I'm just being stupid."

Aerith frowned and Yuffie continued on.

"I know Harry is more than capable but I want to be there with him incase he gets hurt , to protect him."

"That's not stupid," said Aerith softly, "you're a young girl and the boy you deeply care for is putting himself in danger to help Sora save us all."

Yuffie felt her eyes burn as she remembered her and Harry's conversation just a few days ago but she would not let her tears fall; those tears were for Harry to soothe away, and she did not feel comfortable bearing that weakness to anyone else but him, not even to Aerith who had been the one to comfort her through her night terrors in the aftermath of the destruction of their world.

Aerith ran her fingers through Yuffie's dark hair in an attempt to calm the distraught girl. The two girls sat in silence when Yuffie's keen eyes spotted a white speck flying towards them.

The speck was getting closer and closer and getting larger and larger until both girls could make out what it was. It was an owl, a pure white owl that Yuffie would swear was the most beautiful bird she had ever seen as it ghosted through the air, the light from the moon reflecting off it's silvery plumage.

The bird dove at the girls and came to a stop in front of Yuffie's face.

"H-Hello?"

The owl hooted in a clearly dignified way and landed on Yuffie's knee, staring into Yuffie's puzzled eyes with her own amber orbs.

Yuffie cocked her head to the side; for some reason the bird felt like Harry, almost as if he was there with them.

"Aerith," said the young ninja in a daze, "let's get to Cid's shop, we need Merlin."

Aerith was confused but nodded anyway.

000 0000 000

Entering the odd's and end's shop with the bird on Yuffie's shoulder, the girls saw Cid, Leon, and Merlin pouring over a tatty, old storybook.

"Merlin," said Yuffie, "this owl..."

Merlin turned his attention to the young girl his apprentice was so fond of and his eyes widened behind his circular glasses.

"Yuffie," gasped Merlin as he felt a familiar presence on the edge of his mind and in his magic, "that bird. Where did you find it?"

The owl pushed off from her perch on Yuffie's shoulder and glided to the counter top, leaving Cid to pull the priceless tome out of the way of her sharp talons. Yuffie walked over and knelt at eye level with the bird.

Yuffie felt a stirring in her heart and she was overcome with a vision, a series of unconnected pictures and noises, sights and smells assaulted the receptors in her brain as she saw things she shouldn't have been able to see.

_A younger Harry , she would place his age at eleven years old, and the same owl sitting in a tiny bedroom. Harry was looking through a thick book. _

_"Look at this, girl. How do you like the name '_'?" _

_The scene changed _

_Harry and the owl walking around the grounds of a large castle. Yuffie could smell the freshly cut grass and the trees in the beginning of springtime. _

_"I don't know what to do, _, I know Snape's trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, I just don't know why." _

_The scene changed. _

_The owl flying behind Harry as he rode a blue car through the air with his friends. _

_"I don't think he could," said Harry. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall." _

_The scene changed. _

_The owl perched on the headboard of Harry's bed as she watched over him as he slept through a nightmare, a silent vigil. _

_"Ginny, no...Please don't be dead..." Whimpered Harry as he curled into a ball, his eyes clenched shut. "T-Tom Riddle, you're Voldemort!" _

_Harry woke, breathing heavily as he grasped a wound in on the inside of his right elbow. _

_The scene changed. _

_Then it was a slightly older Harry who lay in a hospital stroking the owl's plumage as he stared dejectedly at a pile of wood splinter and twigs. _

_The scene changed. _

_The owl was hooting in amusement as her human paced nervously, he was wearing obviously expensive robes of a dark bottle-green. _

_"I'm going to make an arse of myself, _, you owls are lucky you don't have to do these things..." _

_The owl hooted in a particularly hard chortle at the slight whine in her human's voice. _

_The scene changed. _

_Harry was surrounded by friends and those he considered family on the grounds of the same castle. _

_"You're going to be brilliant, Harry!" _

_Harry looked at a girl with bushy brown hair while he stroked his owl with shaking hands. _

_"Thanks for your confidence..." _

_A gangly, tall, red-headed boy threw his arm around Harry's shoulders in a brotherly manner. _

_"Come on, mate. After tonight it'll all be over and we can breathe easily again, just focus on that." _

_The vision changed. _

_The owl didn't know what to do. The creatures of darkness kept coming no matter how many spells the wizards and witches threw at them. The owl was more worried than ever for her human, her fledgling. _

_A Shadow leapt from the ceiling and knocked Hedwig to the floor of a tall tower filled with other owls it advanced on her and then she knew nothing. _

The vision faded and Yuffie swayed dangerously on the spot as she struggled to absorb the information and keep from passing out.

Aerith, who had been watching in worry, rushed forward and grasped at her arms.

"H-Hedwig..."

The name stumbled from Yuffie's lips before she knew what was happening.

The owl bobbed her head once.

"What's a Hedwig?"

Yuffie looked at Leon and Cid.

"Her name, Harry's owl... Hedwig."

Slowly, Yuffie extended her hand and waited for the owl to bob her head before stroking the area under her beak where she had seen Harry pat her in the visions.

It was Cid who asked the question they all wanted answered.

"How did she get here if Harry's world was destroyed?"

Merlin shook himself out of his stupor.

"It's remarkable... Harry had told me a little about Hedwig when I reviewed what he knew about Familiars-"

"-Familiar?"

Merlin turned to Cid.

"A wizard's or witch's Familiar is an animal that assists their human when practicing magic, they have a strong bond that ties them together. Normally it takes many years for a Familiar Bond to form and I told Harry as much when he asked about Hedwig."

"Then how did she live through the destruction of her world?"

"It's like I said, it's remarkable because the only way she could have survived is if she and Harry had a fully formed Familiar Bond. They were tied together by the strength of that bond and because Harry survived so did Hedwig-"

"-That doesn't explain how she got here."

Merlin sent a disgruntled look at a grinning Cid for his constant interruptions.

"Hedwig was called here because Harry left a small part of his heart here in the bonds of friendship he made with us."

He turned to Yuffie who was still stroking Hedwig's neck.

"You'll notice that it was Yuffie she showed herself too, if it wasn't obvious he cared for you a great deal then you should know it now."

Yuffie's cheeks tinged red and she smiled.

"Hedwig's hungry, she hasn't had anything to eat since before the end of her world."

"Yuffie," said Aerith, "can you speak to Hedwig?"

The younger girl shook her head.

"No, it's more like I can understand her emotions, she showed me her memories a few minutes ago."

Merlin smiled widely.

"Cares for you a great deal, indeed!"

The others looked at him in question.

"Huh..."

"For you to even understand that much shows the strength of your bond with Harry."

"But how," said Squall, "she and Harry only started dating a day before he left?"

"The magic of love -of the heart- is one of the most complicated studies in the universe," said Merlin wisely, "It's not clear how these things happen. Besides, I think the old adage, distance makes the heart grow fonder, applies here."

Aerith turned her attention back to Yuffie and saw that she was beet red and the Hedwig was hooting in what could only be a chortle.

"What's wrong Yuffie?"

The others looked to the young ninja in concern.

"H-Hedwig just asked if I was Harry's m-mate."

That was all it took for Cid to dissolve in loud belly laughs and Leon to get his protective big brother hackles up.

"Oh," giggled Aerith, her hand infront of her mouth and her eyes twinkling in mischief, "and what did you say?"

"Aerith," whined Leon, "Yuffie's too young to be anyone's mate!"

Aerith just giggled harder at Leon's obvious discomfort and Cid turned his laugh on the leather-clad swordsman.

Yuffie, glad the attention was off her, turned back to Hedwig and offered her arm as a perch before leaving the four adults and entering the kitchen on the shops second floor flat. Feeding Hedwig strips of leftover bacon, Yuffie couldn't help but smile at the thought of Harry's face when he finds out Hedwig's alive.

000 Perspective Shift 000

On Wonderland

One Hour Later.

Harry dejectedly entered the Queen's court and spotted Sora talking animatedly to Alice with a grin on his face. As Harry approached, Sora turned his head to greet Harry and hold up a pink box making the black-haired boy grin.

"You found it?"

Sora nodded.

"Yep, the cat was right; it was hard to get too."

Harry leaned against the wall to take a rest.

"Where was it?"

Sora was about to answer when one of the card soldiers came forward.

"If you have your evidence present it to the Queen at once."

He made a sweeping motion with his poleax towards the witness stand. Harry and Sora walked where directed and waited for the Queen's attention.

"Do you have your defense prepared?"

Sora nodded and handed the the pink box to the card soldier who opened it and was promptly attacked and devoured by a Soldier Heartless, startling the Queen and her guards who raised their weapons. Sora was already moving and destroyed the being of darkness with a few strikes of his Keyblade.

"W-what is this?" Screeched the Queen.

"That is what we tried to tell you about!" Implored Harry. "That's a Heartless, when a heart falls to the darkness a Heartless is born. My home was destroyed by these things!"

The Queen was appeared not to have heard the young wizard and was muttering under her breath before her disproportionately small head snapped up and she started screeching for her soldiers.

"They have attempted to steal my heart, they are clearly in league with both the Heartless and Alice! In the name of Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts, **OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" **

Card soldiers brandished their poleaxes and rushed Sora and Harry while a separate group surged for Alice.

Harry snapped his wand up and shouted, _"Protego!"_ A purple dome of protective magic formed around Alice's cage before he jabbed his foci and stunned one soldier. Sora, after confirming Alice was safe, struck out at the nearest soldier before knocking him out with a jab to his head.

It was a furious fight and Harry had to heal both himself and Sora several times as they battled against the heavily trained guards of the Queen of Hearts.

Finally, Sora and Harry had the contingent of soldiers unconscious and the spiky-haired Keybearer pointed his Keyblade to the neck of the obnoxious Queen.

"We're taking Alice and we're leaving, unharmed. Understand?"

The Queen gave a glare but nodded grudgingly.

Harry turned to the cage and undid his Shield Charm only to drop his wand in shock: the cage had been ripped open and Alice was missing, a scrap of her white apron hanging from the twisted metal.

"Sora!" Shouted Harry, his eyes wide in alarm.

The Keybearer turned at the sound of his friend's voice and his eyes widened in panic before bringing his attention back to the Queen.

"Where-is-she?" The words slipped from Sora's gritted teeth.

"I-I-I don't know..." The Queen was clearly terrified of the Keyblader.

Harry walked up and placed his hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Come on, mate. Let's go look for her."

Sora was breathing heavy and Harry was concerned that his friend was going to strike the Queen down in his rage before he nodded slowly and banished his weapon. The two powerful young men turned on the spot and walked out of the courtyard.

Entering the bazaar, doll house, room they were greeted by the grinning cat standing on the table near the growth potion, his pink and purple stripes glowing in alternating patterns.

_"The person who took Alice lit the lanterns and the Shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!" _

The cat phased out of sight with a humorous chuckle.

_"You really should look up." _

Both Harry and Sora snapped their heads up and saw an incredibly tall Heartless jump from the ceiling to the floor, land in a crouch and then bounce on it's hands over the table to land on it's feet behind the two warriors.

Not wasting time, Sora ran forward in an attempt to stagger the Heartless and relieve his frustrations in one go.

Harry followed at a more sedate pace and cast Libra on himself, reviewing the information it gave him.

_Trickmaster: A tall, quick, Heartless with great reach, can resist and shoot fire. Stagger with Ice Magic. _

_Warning: will gain resistance to Ice when used against it repeatedly. _

_Health: oo_

_Power: o_

_Magic: ooo _

_Speed: oooo_

A Trickmaster was a bizarre Heartless with spindly legs resembling scissor jacks, arms that appear and sound like they're made of paper, and a head made of several segments balanced of top of each other. Each of those segments had its own face and all of the faces have the same glowing yellow eyes and jagged mouths, they alternated in color from red to black. Its arms are black and it was juggling two purple clubs. It wore black armor with large, red shoulder pads, a black codpiece, it had a very thin, red body. The upper halves of its legs were red, while their lower halves were black. Its feet were black, flat, and curled at the tips. It's upper body had golden accents.

"Watch out for it's speed and magic!"

Harry saw Sora nod his head before reaching the Heartless, jumping, and attacking at it's lowest face with a vertical slash. Harry, five paces from the beast, launched a Glacius at it's chest that made it roar in pain before crashing to the ground on one knee.

Sora smirked and jumped back to gain some distance from the Heartless before throwing his Keyblade at the stunned creatures face and making it rear back and groan in pain before calling back his weapon in a flash of light.

"What was that?" Asked Harry as he leapt out of the way from the re-attacking monster.

"It's called Strike Raid, that cat taught me as a reward for finding the evidence. It gets stronger when I use it rapidly, back-to-back."

_"Protego!" _

A shield appeared behind Sora and deflected a fireball that he didn't notice. Sora nodded his thanks and used his Dodge Roll to get under the Trickmaster and strike upwards in a three-hit combo, bringing it back down to the floor.

Rolling behind the stunned Heartless, Sora started wailing on it's back while Harry closed the distance and got in three pulse strikes with his cane, draining what was left of his magical reserves after the fight with the card soldiers.

Retreating as the Heartless stood and lit it's clubs on fire, Harry quickly downed an ether and ducked under a flaming swing hot enough to scorch his back despite his enchanted cloak. Groaning in pain, Harry was forced to put a shield up as the Heartless came back for a second hit that jarred his bones and made pain lance through the burn on his back.

Sora Dodge Rolled under the swing meant for him and closed the distance to the offending appendage, he jumped up and separated the Trickmaster's arm at the elbow with a horizontal slash, the stump dripping the black ichor that seems to be what a Heartless had for blood, and giving Harry enough time to cast a Cure on his back and rejoin the fight.

Brandishing his wand, Harry yelled, _"Aqua Eructo!"_ A powerful burst of water erupted from his wand and twirled in the air before wrapping around the Heartless' many-faced heads. Making a thrusting motion with his wand he yelled,_"Glacius!" _Sending an Ice Making Charm so overpowered that it froze the orb of water around the Trickmaster's face, damaging the stunned beast and blocking it's fireball attack in one go.

"Hit it with Strike Raid, Sora," yelled Harry who was adding power to his ice attack, "right in the chest while it's distracted."

Sora, who was staring wide-eyed at his friend's spellwork, shook his head and threw his Keyblade with all his might before calling it back. As Sora gained momentum with his throws, the keyblade started glowing and, when the fifth Raid hit, the weapon burst in an explosion of light that depleted whatever stamina the Heartless had left.

As the beast fell and dissolved, Harry sank to his knee, breathing heavily and leaning on his stave.

"The cat never told me it would do that!"

Harry smiled wryly at his companion.

"Are you complaining?"

Sora chuckled and shook his head before wiping the sweat from his brow when he stopped and looked to the ground in front of him, a shiny bauble caught his attention.

"What's this?"

He picked it up and showed it to Harry.

Harry squinted at the little charm and cast Libra on his eyes.

"It's called _'Ifrit's Horn'_ and it grants the wearer a slight protection to fire damage and raises physical defense."

"Cool," said Sora.

"Put it on," shrugged Harry, "my tournament robes are already spelled to resist the elements and protect me physically."

"you sure?"

"Yeah."

Sora grinned and clasped the charm on one of the chains hanging from his belt.

Harry, who's eyes were still under the effect of Libra, saw a normally invisible layer of protection spring to life around his friend, making Harry nod in satisfaction; happy that his friend had some basic protective enchantments.

"How's a Doorknob supposed to get any sleep with all this noise?"

Both young teens turned to the Doorknob of the small door that had helped them earlier. The Doorknob yawned widely and Harry and Sora spotted the glowing outline of an old fashioned keyhole. The Keyblade appeared in a burst of light and the magic weapon somehow dragged Sora's hand to where it was pointing at the Keyhole. The tip of the blade started glowing and a beam of bright light shot from the blade, hitting the Keyhole. Sora and Harry heard the click of a tumbler turning and the Doorknob spat a green block at them before finally falling into a deep sleep.

"What was that?"

Sora sent a concerned look at his weapon before banishing it and shaking his head.

"I don't know, let's ask Leon and the gang at Traverse Town before going to the next world."

Harry nodded and sheathed his wand before picking up the strange item and stowing it in his enchanted pouch.

"Yeah, I want to get some more healing supplies too and ask Merlin about the green thing."

Sora grinned at Harry slyly, a glint in his eyes.

"Yeah," snickered Sora, "and see Yuffie again."

Harry blushed; seeing his girlfriend had crossed his mind more than once.

"Shut up," muttered the teen, "What about you, huh? I saw Alice blush more than once when talking to you."

Sora's cheeks were also a little red.

"You shut up, she's just a little girl, and besides, we're only friends."

Harry snickered but abandoned his teasing.

"Come on, we need to find a way to grow to our normal sizes and then find a way back to the Nautilus."

Sora nodded and turned back to the white, cliff-like, table.

"Know any magic to get us up there?"

Harry seemed to be mentally measuring the height of the table.

"Yeah... I think so."

Harry and Sora walked close and the young wizard pointed his wand towards the bottle of growth potion. _"Carpe Retractum!"_ A orange rope of magical energy shot from his wand and latched onto the ledge of the table. Harry grabbed Sora by the arm and started retracting the rope, quickly raising them into the air.

000 Perspective Shift 000

Donald and Goofy land their gummyship, the Highwind, after a long flight to the Mysterious Tower. Turning the vessel off, the anthromorphic duck and dog jumped from the cockpit and stretched their legs.

"This is Master Yen Sid's tower?"

Donald nodded his head as he looked around excitedly; it wasn't everyday the court magician met wizards as powerful and well respected as Yen Sid (or Merlin, though he didn't have time to talk to the revered mage).

"Come on," squawked Donald, "Let's go hear our mission."

Entering the crooked, pale yellow, tower, the two saw a spiral staircase ascending to the top of the spire.

"Walking up the stairs Donald couldn't hold his excitement and was hungrily examining his surroundings."

Coming upon the final door Goofy raised a fist and was about to knock when the door sprung open of it's own accord.

Cautiously entering the wizard's study, they were called by an old yet powerful voice that was filled with wisdom.

"Come, Court Guard Captain, Goofy and Court Magician, Donald. I have been expecting you. Your King is on his way."

"King Mickey's comin' here, Master?"

"Yes," rumbled the mage under his beard, "His Majesty has decided, under my council, that you are to be traveling with him. We feel that with my friend Merlin's apprentice accompanying the Keybearer that your talents would better be used supporting your King on his journey investigating the dark influences in many of the worlds."

"You mean that we're going to join the King?"

The wizened wizard nodded and smiled at the little duck's enthusiasm.

"Oh boy!"

Yen Sid looked towards one of the moon-shaped windows lining the wall behind his desk.

"I believe my old student is here."

It was only a minute later that the door opened by itself and His Royal Majesty, King Mickey Mouse strode through the archway.

"Always had a flair for the dramatic, Yen Sid."

The powerful wizard chuckled.

"Your Majesty!"

Both duck and dog bowed to the king.

"Now, now, my friends," said the King in his squeaky voice, "it's just 'Mickey' when we're alone."

"Of course, Mickey."

"Now," began Mickey, "Time is of the essence, we must continue my investigation."

The King bowed respectfully to his old teacher and left, followed by his friends.

000 Perspective Shift 000

Harry and Sora beamed aboard their gummyship, the Nautilus, and made their way to the part of the ship where their bunks were located. Both teenage boys stripped out of their sweaty, dirty, torn clothes and piled them up to be washed and repaired after taking a shower in their private stalls.

Harry sat on his bed wearing his pajama pants, and a loose white shirt he transfigured out of a spare sheet. He had done the same for Sora who had settled into his bunk and was already fast asleep.

He stretched his shoulders and winced, the burn from the Trickmaster was still sensitive. Grabbing his wand, he summoned the book Merlin had given him and opened it. Turning to the section with simple, yet specialized, healing charms he found one to treat burns.

Waving his wand over his back he whispered, _"Num Exuro!"_ Harry sighed in relief when he felt the spell take effect and take the throbbing pain away.

Harry put his wand under his pillow and his book on his nightstand before settling under his covers. Quickly falling asleep, Harry dreamt of the end of his world and the probable deaths of everyone he knew and loved.

000 Perspective Change 000

In a shadowy chamber several figures were gathered around a projection of Harry and Sora's battle against the Trickmaster. The sparse light only lit a few of the figures in stark relief. The Dark Lord absently stroked is familiar, Nagini, and pondered his next move.

"Lord Voldemort?"

The Heir of Slytherin looked up, his crimson eyes meeting the yellow ones of Maleficent before sliding over his female disciple, Bellatrix LeStrange.

"Yes, Lady Maleficent."

"Your plan failed, the Heartless did not kill the Keybearer or Merlin's apprentice."

"I never thought it would."

A tall shadow with a French accent leaned forward.

"What?"

"Harry Potter would not die at the hands of such a simple Heartless. No, I knew Potter would live and that the Keyblade Master would live as well."

"Then why did you send a weak one?"

"I didn't pick the Heartless, I merely designed the plan which has placed a Princess of Heart in our grasp."

There were surprised noises from all of the shadows and Voldemort relished their recognition.

"Yes, I knew that Potter and the Keybearer would kill the Trickmaster so I only intended it as a diversionary tactic while one of my apprentices, Bartemius Crouch, stole Alice from under their noses and made his escape without detection,"

Voldemort raised his pale, bald head.

"And here he is."

Barty Crouch strode into the room with an unconscious girl draped over his shoulders. He wore his leather duster, a black sweater and pants, and his boots. His hair was no longer disheveled and was combed in a part over his left eye.

"Well done Barty."

Bella sauntered over to her fellow disciple, the skirt of her dress sashaying provocatively, and stroked his cheek with her index finger. She leaned up and kissed him on his jaw, making his grip on Alice tighten; she might have been over fifteen years his senior but she had just the right amount of crazy that would drive him wild like any of his previous lovers could never do.

"Barty," said Voldemort, "bring the Princess to Maleficent."

The apprentice did just that, and the Mistress of All Evil made the poor girl disappear in a flash of green fire.

"She has been sent to a private holding cell to await the opening of the final Keyhole, I warn you all now that she must remain unspoiled until then, if anyone here thinks that it is their right to have fun with any of the Princesses I will personally destroy the offender."

There was a moment of silence as the shadows absorbed the knowledge and the threat.

"But still," said a tall, regal shadow, "The boy closed one of the Keyholes and that is a problem."

"Who cares," shrugged a fat shadow, "it'll take him ages to find the rest."

"Both of you are right," interjected Maleficent before another pointless argument could break out, "It is a problem but at the moment it is of little concern. Go about with your plans as if nothing has changed."

There was some grumbling but the meeting broke up shortly after that.

000 Perspective Shift 000

Harry and Sora woke up at roughly the same time orbiting Wonderland. Conversation was sparse as the still groggy teens punched their destination into the TC, Harry and Sora went to their weapon platforms and waited for the Nautilus to engage.

It seemed both teens were too tired to do their countdown and the ship blinked out of existence with little fanfare.

000 Chapter End

Author's Note:

Wonderland:  
>The way Sora and Harry entered Wonderland was a nod the the 2010 Tim Burton movie.<p>

About Abilities:  
>In the games, 'Scan' is really just a watered down version of the White Magic 'Libra' and because this is a story instead of a videogame I can't say "and Harry locked on to the Heartless by tapping R1 which activated his Scan..." so I changed it to where the automatic ability 'Scan' is really a spell called 'Scan' that is activated with the incantation 'Libra' which gives more information than the ability 'Scan'.<p>

About the first Large Body:  
>I can't be the only one who swore out loud when the first Large Body appeared and your attacks just bounced off of his roundness. I felt it deserved something more so I wrote this into the story as a way of saying that it's only going to get tougher from here on out, considering that the Large Body is a normal enemy at most points of the game.<p>

Pacing:  
>I had a little trouble with the pacing when writing this chapter. Some parts seemed to blink by at light speed and some dragged by over days, it really was annoying.<p>

Next Chapter: Hedwig and the Deep Jungle


	3. Chapter 3

AN: If it's not obvious, I don't own Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts. That's why I post on a Fanfiction website.

**Chapter Three **

**Re: Traverse Town **

The white, arrow-shaped, Gummiship blinked into existence hovering over Traverse Town. Exiting their weapon platforms, both warriors stretched and gathered their dirty, torn, clothes. Landing the ship just outside the town gates, the two disembarked from the Nautilus in their pajamas. Waving his wand, Harry pushed the heavy double doors open and they entered the First District.

The town seemed to change little in the few days they had been gone. The the little burg seemed cloaked in perpetual night and, as always, the First District was deceptively calm.

Walking up a series of stairs, the two boys entered Cid's Odd and End's Shop and Harry was greeted by the sent of cherry blossom shampoo and a face full of black hair as he was engulfed in a powerful hug. "Yuffie..."

"Harry!"

Sora couldn't help but feel a bit wistful as he felt a painful bump in his heart; he missed Kairi (and Riku, but he couldn't hug him like that.) more and more everyday.

The young ninja held her boyfriend out at arm length to inspect him; it was the first time she had seen him not wearing his tournament robes, normally he just used cleaning and freshening magic on them every night.

"Harry." said Yuffie. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." at her disbelieving stare he amended. "I'm just tired, we fought a lot of Heartless in the last few days, and a few hours sleep on the Gummiship does not a restful night make."

Her dubious eye turned concerned in an instant and she led Harry and Sora deeper into the shop. Sitting them down at a dining room table, their shoulders slumped as Yuffie gathered the things she'd need for breakfast. "I knew you two would be coming back soon."

Harry looked up wearily. "How?"

The young teen started gathering things to make omelets. "We had a visitor." said Yuffie as she tied an apron around her shoulders and waist.

Harry and Sora perked up; had one of their friends found their way to Traverse Town? "Who?"

Yuffie was just about to answer when a blur of white flew into the open window and dived for Harry's shoulder. "H-Hedwig?" Harry's voice was choked as though he was fighting back tears. The snowy owl gave him an affectionate nibble on his ear before burying her white-feathered head against his neck. "How?"

Yuffie smiled at her boyfriend. "Apparently it is possible to surprise that old man. Merlin thought it was impossible to form a full Familiar Bond in just four years but that's the only thing that could have helped her survive the end of your world."

Harry gently put Hedwig on his shoulder and stroked her plumage. "When did she get here?"

"Yesterday. She showed herself to me and then linked with my mind to tell me who she was."

Harry blushed as the implications hit him and Sora could hold his question no longer. "Who's Hedwig?"

Harry turned from his feathered friend. "Hedwig is one of my oldest friends, we met when I was eleven years old. I thought she was swallowed by the Darkness when my world was destroyed."

Sora extended his hand to pet her but stopped half way when Hedwig's big amber eyes found his blue ones. Finally, she nodded and rubbed her head against his palm.

It was a few minutes later when Harry smiled and set Hedwig on the back of his chair. The black-haired youth walked into an open kitchen and over to Yuffie who had started preparing breakfast. Wrapping his arms around her slender waist, Harry kissed her neck and took in her welcoming scent. "I missed you..."

Yuffie stopped whisking her eggs and smiled, a small blush forming on her cheeks. "It was only a few days." needled Yuffie with a grin. "It couldn't have been that bad."

Harry's grip tightened making Yuffie sigh. "Dun' matter."

The young ninja sat her bowl down and turned in Harry's arms. "Well you know what?" murmured Yuffie. "I missed you too."

She leaned in for a kiss when Leon and Aerith entered the kitchen. "Well isn't this cute!" giggled the older woman, her hand hiding her smile. "You should consider yourself lucky, Harry, Yuffie hates cooking even though she's really good at it."

The two teens jumped apart with bright red faces.

"Do you have to do that in here?" whinged Leon. "Come on, I haven't even had my morning coffee yet and this sweetness is going to give me a toothache."

"Don't let her fool you, Harry. She literally spent all her free time pining over you when you were gone."

Yuffie's blush darkened and she glared at her 'elder sister'. "You two can make your own breakfast, this is for Harry, Sora, and I."

"They're just teasin', Yuffie. Don't let them get to ya'." Cid said as he walked into the kitchen followed by Sora and Merlin. "Aerith will help Yuffie cook and Squall will set the table - it's too early for this."

Harry was surprised when the three started their tasks without complaint and exchanged a look with Sora that wasn't missed by Merlin. "Cid has been like a father to those three since he rescued them from their dying world and trained them to fight. They respect him and follow his orders like a parent."

Sora and Harry nodded their understanding and split up to help prepare the food and set the table. Nearly twenty minutes later, the Traverse Town Defenders were sitting down to a meal of cheese and bacon omelets, roasted potatoes, and toast and jam. There was coffee (that Yuffie, Sora, and Harry were forbidden to drink on the grounds that a hyper hero was a destructive hero), tea, and orange juice to drink.

"-And after we fought a big Heartless the keyblade shot a beam of light at the doorknob," said Sora, finishing his summary of their adventures in Wonderland.

Merlin and Cid sat deep in thought, Sora and Harry's news was odd and a bit distressing.

"Another thing," said Harry, "Before we left, we found an odd... thing." He summoned his enchanted pouch from the other room, extracted the strange green block, and slid it over to his teacher. "Do you know what this is?"

The old wizard squinted at the item. "Cid, I believe, would know more about this than I." He handed the block to the grumpy blonde.

"Well I'll be." he passed the block back to Harry. "What ya' have there is a Navi-G Block." Sora's and Harry's eyebrow raised at the same time, the young wizard made a 'get on with it' motion with his hand. "Hold on to your horses," chuckled Cid, "I'm gettin' there." Cid straightened up and cleared his throat. "A Navi-G Block," began the Gummi Engineer, "can be added to yer Gummiship to extend it's Targetin' Computer's range."

"So..." said Harry, holding his chin between his thumb and index finger before pointing to the little green block. "We can go to more places with this?"

"Normally," said Cid with a shrug, "this one looks like it's part of a set, find it's partner and I'll add 'em to the Nautilus."

Harry nodded and pocketed the Navg-G Block.

"So," said Merlin, clapping his hands together. "You two look like you're dead on your feet, so why don't you go get a bit of rest, we will call you down for supper. I'll make sure your clothes get washed."

Both Harry and Sora were relieved and thanked the others at the table. They left the dining room and entered the bedroom they had shared when they had first met, intending to get some deep sleep.

**000 0000 000 **

Back in the dining room the other three Traverse Town Defenders left to clean up, leaving Cid and Merlin alone. "Do ya' know what the beam of light thing's about, Merlin?"

The old Mage stroked his long silver beard with a wrinkled hand. "I have an idea, but I'll need to visit my library to make sure."

Cid, knowing that trying to get information out of a wizard who wasn't ready to share was nearly impossible, tried a different line of conversation. "Yuffie's not going to want to be left behind again..."

Merlin breathed deeply and exhaled loudly. "I know," the legendary wizard nodded his head as though agreeing with himself. "But she must; it is imperative that Sora and Harry have a strong bond of friendship if they are to succeed in their mission. That would be nearly impossible if Sora was a... 'third wheel', I believe they're called nowadays."

"What if they find Sora's Girlie?"

"Three is a crowd, but four would be fine. Judging by their rather haggard appearance, Harry's healing magic isn't the greatest. Perhaps Kairi would have more talent in that area?"

"We should probably get them more Potions and Ethers," chuckled Cid.

"Perhaps a few Healing Tents as well?" asked Merlin with a twinkle in his dark eyes.

Cid broke the heavy silence that followed. "I'm worried," sighed the normally gruff man, "accordin' to Sora, the Cat said that the one who kidnapped Alice 'called' the 'Big Heartless.' Someone out there is controllin' these things and we're sending them in blind!"

Merlin nodded grimly. "I plan on examining Harry's memories of their time on Wonderland in greater detail later."

Cid nodded. "I'm sure Leon would be okay with trainin' Sora s'more. Maybe Aerith can do somethin' about Harry's Healing Magic?"

"Yes," said Merlin in agreement, "maybe..."

**000 0000 000 **

It was nearly three in the afternoon when Harry woke. Looking to his right, he saw that the second bed usually occupied by Sora was empty. His repaired and cleaned tournament clothes were folded and sitting on a trunk at the foot of his bed.

Smiling, he garbed himself in his warm robes and buckled his enchanted pouch over his hips. Sliding his wand in his cloak's inner pocket, Harry used his stave as a walking stick and he left the room reviewing what he needed to do before his party left for the next world. First thing on the list was to spend some private time with Yuffie.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. As soon as he left the bedroom, Merlin had dragged him away to his hut for more lessons. All he could do was spare a longing eye at his short shorts clad girlfriend on the way out as he unwillingly followed his mentor. His ancient and male mentor.

Entering Merlin's hut, Harry was directed to a familiar desk and handed parchment, quill and ink, before Merlin put himself behind an antique lectern. As Merlin started his Lesson, Harry put a lot effort into his notes in the hope that his teacher would let him out earlier if he looked studious.

**000 0000 000 **

Sora awoke a little after noon. Stretching, he got out of bed and found his clothes on top of a dresser lining the wall near the door. Dressing quietly, he made sure his multitude of belts and zippers were on correctly and left the room after one glance at his sleeping friend.

Exiting the bedroom, Sora was pulled into a conversation with Squall Leonhart who gestured to the front door. "Listen, Sora." said Squall once they left the shop. "Cid and Merlin want to do another few days of training before you leave again."

The Keybearer raised an eyebrow - something he was doing more often since he met his British friend. "But I thought that we didn't have anymore time."

Squall shrugged. "They decided that you being a bit behind schedule was better than you dying unprepared." Sora frowned at the lack of faith in himself and Harry but nodded all the same. Leon turned abruptly and started walking up the stairs that would lead him to the second district. Obviously, he expected the young Keybearer to follow him.

Sora shook his head at Squall's curt demeanor but followed.

The two warriors entered the second district and fought their way to Squall's secret training grounds located under the back alley waterway. Wading through knee-high water, Sora trailed behind Leon. As always, the underground cavern reminded the brown-haired Keybearer of the Secret Place he and his group of friends played in as children. He felt a painful bump in his heart; the location was so striking that, for a moment, Sora thought he saw Kairi admiring the mural of a sun and moon embossed on the pale green walls.

Shaking his head, Sora turned his attention back to his swordsmanship tutor before he missed anymore of his lesson. "-mentioned a new technique you learned on Wonderland, I want you to show me."

Sora readied his Keyblade and initiated Strike Raid.

**000 0000 000 **

**Traverse Town **

**Three Days Later. **

The Traverse Town Defenders were seeing the Keybearer and the Wizard off at the town gates. Harry looked to his girlfriend with an apologetic expression on his face; Yuffie had asked if she could accompany her boyfriend offworld only to be shot down by both Merlin and Cid. The row that followed was truly epic and only ended when Yuffie ran out of Cid's with angry tears streaming down her face. It had taken Harry nearly three hours and a few subtle cheering charms to get Yuffie to calm down enough for the two to enjoy Harry's last night on Traverse Town.

With a quiet sigh, Harry accepted a bag of Potions and Ethers from his Mentor.

"Now," said Merlin, "I've been doing a little research on the beam of light your Keyblade used on the doorknob, Sora." The Keybearer and the wizard looked at each other and then back to Merlin expectantly, making the old man smile underneath his beard. "As you know, every world has a heart. What your Keyblade did was seal the Keyhole, the portal, to the Heart of the World. Wonderland is no longer in immediate danger of falling to the Darkness."

Cid switched places with Merlin and took up explaining. "We don't know who is controllin', the Heartless, though we 'spect Maleficent and this Voldemort character have a large hand in it. If we keep resistin' them I have no doubt that they will strike against us. So be careful..."

The two boys nodded seriously and Merlin took up the impromptu lesson. "Traverse Town should have a Keyhole as well. While you're gone we'll try to find it. If you can seal it then we'll all be able to breath a little easier."

Again, the two boys nodded.

"Now," said the wizened wizard, "I'd like to place a spell on you that will make it easier to blend in with a world's inhabitants."

"Why?" asked Sora, tugging at the hem of his white and black hoody.

"Because," said Merlin with the air that suggested that Sora was being dimwitted on purpose, "it'll make it easier to do what you need to do if you're not bothered by the curious inhabitants of whatever world you are on. People will trust you more if you look like you belong, making it easier to gather information and enlist the help of others."

Sora was a little red-faced for not thinking about that sooner and Harry decided to come to his friend's rescue and put a hand on his shoulder. "What will the spell do exactly?" Merlin quirked an eyebrow. "Will it just change our clothes," elaborated the younger wizard, "or will it change us as well?"

"Hmm... Good questions." praised his Mentor. "The magic has the capability to change your very being if necessary, but mostly it will stick to clothes. While under the effects of the charm, you will still be able to use your abilities and Magic."

Both Sora (who's embarrassment had faded) and Harry nodded their understanding so Merlin started waving his wand around the two heroes whilst muttering long strings of Latin. The old man stepped back, breathing heavy, though he hid it well, and Harry finally understood what the wizard was talking about; he was too old to fight Voldemort and Maleficent. The knowledge and will was there but his magic and endurance was diminished with age.

Harry sighed, it truly was up to him.

The goodbyes were a little hurried since the two warriors were behind schedule as it was. With one last longing look to his girlfriend, Harry followed his friend out of the town gates and boarded the Nautilus.

**000 0000 000 **

**Two Days Earlier **

**On the Highwind **

King Mickey Mouse paced in front of his longtime friends and allies, Donald Duck and Goofy Goof, while their Gummiship, the Highwind, orbited Yen Sid's tower.

"This all started ten years ago," said Mickey in his squeaky voice. "I was training under Yen Sid when a Keyblade Master by the name of Xehanort did something that changed the balance between Light and Darkness. Shortly afterward, the number of Heartless somehow increased. A year later, a Dark Witch by the name of Maleficent started using the Heartless in great numbers to terrorize the worlds. She's searching for something, or someone."

Mickey sighed and gathered his thoughts, his audience enraptured. "I once knew a man, a leader and scientist, who was doing an unprecedented study of the heart. I knew how addicting the power could be and warned him off continuing his research. This man's name was Ansem. He promised me he would stop and I left him to continue my studies."

"What happened, your Majesty?"

Mickey smiled wanly at Goofy. "Ansem lied to me. He must've continued his research because his world was swallowed and warped by the darkness. Before we can make a move we need to find out how the Heartless have managed to multiply so quickly. If we can stop it then we have a shot at stopping Maleficent."

"So, Where do we go, Highness?"

"Well, Donald. Ansem was a lot of things but a slob he was not. He left notes, reports, and essays behind." The King reached into a pocket and pulled out two worn pieces of paper. Clearing his throat, he read:

_"Ansem Report One: _

_Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. _

_I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. _

_I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times. _

_Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born? _

_How does it come to affect us so? _

_As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness." _

Mickey looked up at Donald and Goofy. "That's the first of the Ansem Reports. I have one more." He switched the reports, putting the second over the first. Clearing his throat, he read:

_"Ansem Report Three: _

_The shadows that crawl beneath the castle... Are they the people who lost their hearts, or incarnations of darkness? Or something entirely beyond my imagination? _

_All my knowledge has provided no answer. One thing I am sure of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart. _

_Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples. They are multiplying underground even as I write this report. They still need a name. Those who lack hearts... I will call them the Heartless." _

Mickey breathed out shakily; the third report always creeped him out. "This is our goal," said Mickey quietly. "We need to track down theses Reports. They hold all the answers we seek!"

Donald and Goofy nodded seriously.

"Of course," grinned Mickey, while summoning his Keyblade, the Starseeker, in a burst of light. "We'll be closing as many Keyholes as possible." Seeing that his companions had no idea what he was talking about, he then explained about the powers of the Keyblade and the nature of the worlds. Wrapping up his impromptu lesson, Mickey walked to the Targeting Computer and input the coordinates for their next destination. "Whelp! Let's get going, fellas!"

Donald and Goofy nodded at their King and strapped themselves into their seats while Mickey took the helm. The Highwind's engines flared to life and the three heroes disappeared into hyperspace.

**000 Chapter End 000 **

**Author's Note:** I've put up a Poll that concerns this story. It's a simple three choice question, if you would be so kind as to answer the thing I would appreciate it.

**Author's Note, the Second: **Super sorry for the small chapter after so long, but it just felt like the best place to stop.

**Author's Note, the Third:** If you have a certain world you want explored then put the Idea in a review please. I have two teams to write for after all! I have just one condition; if the inhabitants of that world are too powerful (like Ichigo, Naruto, or Luffy) then I can't see the heartless having much success in those worlds leaving little need for Sora and Harry's assistance.

**Next Chapter: **The Deep Jungle

**Chapter After That:** The first new (to Kingdom Hearts) world! Leave your guesses in a review please! I'll even give you a hint: 'The Sea'. There it is, take a guess.

Thanks for reading and review please!


End file.
